Chapter 35:
The portal opened and the Sliders fell out of it, landing on the ground. They stood up and brushed themselves off.
"Well, this place looks rather tame compared to the last world." Sam said. "No flying defense drones this time."
"Good." Rebecca said.
"Well, I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." Michael said.
"No time." Rebecca said.
"Huh?" Michael asked.
"Timer says we have twenty seconds left." Rebecca replied.
"That can't be right, give me that." Michael said, taking the timer. The timer began to spark and a beam shot out of the timer, hitting Rebecca in the chest.
"Argh!" Rebecca cried as the vortex opened and began to swallow her.
"No!" Michael shouted, as he tapped the buttons on the timer rapidly.
The portal dissipated and Michael and Sam looked at the spot that Rebecca was standing in horror.
"She's... gone." Michael said, staring blankly.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"I... I don't know." Michael replied.
Suddenly the portal re-appeared and a woman emerged from it. She was wearing torn clothing, with her hair in a makeshift ponytail. She was covered in dirt and grime as well. She stood up, revealing herself to be Rebecca, but about seven years older.
"Rebecca?" Michael asked.
"I haven't heard that name in a long time." Rebecca replied. "Good to see you again, Mike. You too, Sam."
"Well, the timer has reset to about two days, so I guess we can take the time to figure out what happened. I guess, we'll go to the hotel and sort this out." Michael said.
In the lobby, Rebecca stood off to the side as Michael paid for the room. A man in a suit walked up to Rebecca, and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, Miss. Do you have the time?" he asked. Rebecca responded by unsheathing a knife from a pouch on her belt and holding it up. Sam grabbed her arm as the man ran away.
"What the hell?" Sam asked.
"Sorry. I thought he was threatening me." Rebecca replied.
"Let's just get to the room." Sam said, shaking his head.
"Okay, so..." Michael said. "Why don't you start with your story, Rebecca?"
"Well..." Rebecca said. "It all started about seven years ago."
Rebecca fell out of the portal and brushed herself off. She looked around, seeing only dense forest and trees.
"Michael? Sam? Anyone?" she shouted. "Where am I?"
Rebecca started to walk down a path, when a large cat-like creature hopped out of the forest and began to leap towards her. She ran in the other direction, but tripped on a rock and landed on the ground. She turned around as the creature got closer to her.
"AHHHH!" she screamed as she closed her eyes, when she heard a gunshot, and opened her eyes to see the creature go limp and fall to the ground.
A man walked out of the forest, holding a rifle, and smiled at her.
"Ello, Miss. How did you manage to get lost out here?" he asked.
"I... don't know." Rebecca said.
"The name is Jack Bronson. And what is your name?" he asked in an Aussie accent.
"Rebecca, Rebecca Collins." she replied.
"Well, Ms. Collins, allow me to accompany you back to town, to protect you from other dangerous creatures." Jack said.
"Thank you, sir." Rebecca said, following Jack out of the forest.
"Wait, so you met this guy and left the forest, why are you dressed in rags and paranoid enough to almost stab a man for asking the time?" Sam asked.
"I was getting to that!" Rebecca said. "Anyway, the town he was referring to was more of a temporary set-up like that Mobile Army Hospital."
"We're with a search expedition, going through the jungles of what once was San Francisco." Jack said, as they walked through the town.
"So, what happened to San Francisco?"
"Didn't you learn American History?"
"Humor me, Indy."
"Who?"
"Never mind, just tell me."
"Fine. San Fran used to be a place full of people, until some weird cosmic event happened, and the entire place was somehow transformed into this, with all the people gone. It's like another world's San Fran got, transmuted onto this one."
"Huh..."
"It was weird, happened a few decades back, in the 80's, but they're always sending exploration parties since it's such a dense place. Plus most of the excursions in the 80's and 90's were archaeological. We're studying the ecosystems and the like."
"Interesting. Mind if I tag along for a bit? I might be in town for a while."
"Sure, we can always use another explorer around to help. And such a pretty one at that."
"Don't press your luck."
"Feisty, we can use a woman like you."
"I'm sure you could."
"And it was great, for a while, their expedition was still going for a few years and I hung around. The problem was, leaving the jungle." Rebecca said.
"Time to load the choppers." Jack said. "You know, babe, you never told me how you got here."
"That's a story for another time. Let's get out of here." Rebecca said.
The choppers were loaded and Rebecca and Jack climbed into the back of the chopper and strapped themselves in.
"First time back in civilization in five years." Rebecca said.
"Six for me." Jack said.
"I can't wait to get back." Rebecca said.
Suddenly, the chopper began to lurch and they felt a jolt.
"What was that?" Jack asked.
"The engines are overheating! We're going down!" the pilot shouted.
"AHHHH!" Rebecca and Jack screamed as the chopper slammed into the ground.
Rebecca crawled out of the chopper and tried to pull Jack out. But he wouldn't budge.
"Jack!" she shouted. "Jack?"
She solemnly walked away and leaned against a tree. Just as she did that, the chopper exploded. She ducked behind the tree and braced herself as she felt the heat of the explosion.
"Jack..." she sobbed.
"I spent the next two years fending for myself in the jungles. Fighting the animals and trying to find civilization. Then, one day I was about to get into a fight with another one of those cat things when the portal sucked me back here." Rebecca said. "I think it was a combination of the two years alone and the loss of Jack that drove me to the paranoid state."
"You really liked him, huh?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Rebecca said.
"Okay, so that thing that happened before the portal sucked you up. When it said, twenty seconds on it. That's impossible." Michael said.
"Really?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, when we first met Quinn and the others, he told me that they'd almost found their world so many times, but the timer would always be like two minutes, or ten seconds, too short to be sure that they found the right world. So we altered the algorithm on our timer, so that it would always give us at least an hour on any given world." Michael said.
"So what does that mean?" Rebecca asked.
"It means someone is conduction experiments on this world that is messing with the timer. And we have to find out what they're doing." Michael replied.
"But first, we might want to get her some new clothes." Sam said.
"Right. You guys do that, I'm going to check out and see if odd goings on are happening." Michael said. "We'll meet back here when we're done."
Sam and Rebecca walked into the clothing store as Rebecca's eyes darted around nervously.
"Calm down, Rebecca. No one here wants to hurt you. Just find some clothes you like, and then we can get back to the hotel." Sam said.
"I know. It's just, old habits, you know?" Rebecca said.
"Yeah. Don't worry, you don't need to fend for yourself anymore. Michael and I are here for you, you can let your guard down a bit."
"You're right." Rebecca smiled.
Michael walked into the library at Cal-U and went up to the reference desk. The girl sitting there looked up at him.
"Michael! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the lab, today's the day they're performing your experiments." she said.
"Uh... You're right. I was just, uh, taking a little break." Michael said. "I'll be getting back to the lab now."
Michael sprinted out of the library and towards the lab. He heard a door open and ducked behind a trash can. He saw his double and another man walk out.
"I can't believe how successful these experiments have been going today. That first one was able to open up a time warp between two points in time!" Michael's double shouted.
"Yes, that's very good. We'll up the power and the radius when we get back from lunch." the man walking with his double said.
Michael got up and opened the door as they walked away. He walked into the lab and saw all the equipment.
"Michael! I thought you were going to lunch!" a woman said.
"I was, but I wanted to check something before I left." Michael said.
"And you changed clothes too..." she said.
"Yeah. I felt like it." Michael said. "Anyway, where's all the... literature that I have on these experiments again?"
"Probably your computer over there." she said.
"That's right. I can never remember what I move to flash drives and whatnot."
"Right..."
"Anyway..." Michael said, sitting at the laptop. He slipped a flash drive out of his pocket. "Good thing I picked this up a few worlds back."
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing." Michael said, transferring all the data to the flash drive. He pulled it out and stood up. "And now, I will go get lunch. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone I came back, especially don't mention it around me. Everyone things I'm overworking myself."
"Got it." she said as Michael left the lab.
Sam and Rebecca, who is wearing proper clothing now, walked into the hotel room, seeing Michael staring at a computer.
"Hey! How do I look?" Rebecca asked.
"Great." Michael said, not looking.
"I'm gone for seven years and he's exactly the same." Rebecca muttered.
"What's so interesting?" Sam asked.
"My double on this world, he's working on something similar to sliding, but instead of other dimensions, he's trying to develop some sort of time travel technology." Michael replied. "But these figures are all messed up. It's some Frankenstein's monster of sliding and time travel. His experiment must have messed with the timer when we arrived, and caused what happened to you, Rebecca."
"I guess." Rebecca said. "But how does this help us?"
"I think his experiments might have been part of the cause of what happened on that other world you were on. The transmutation of a jungle onto regular San Francisco." Michael said. "If his time warp stuff altered other realities, it must be stopped."
"How can you do that?" Rebecca asked. "And with only a day and a half to do it?"
"I don't know, but I know where to start. My double." Michael replied.
Michael walked into the lab and began to walk down the corridor. Immediately, two security guards grabbed him and pulled him into a room.
"Hey, what's the big idea? I work here!" Michael shouted.
"No you don't. I do." Michael's double said.
"Oh, hey." Michael said.
"Now, who are you?"
"You know, I always say that they'll never believe me, but you might. I'm your duplicate from another universe."
"And why did you steal my work?"
"Not steal, borrow. I have the flash drive right here, ready to return it to you." Michael said, tapping his pocket. "But there are bigger issues at hand."
"Like what?"
"The fact that your experiments are messing with other realities. And my own technology."
"I don't understand."
"Your work is all wrong. It's not time travel, it's inter-dimensional travel."
"Bullshit. That's impossible."
"No it isn't. That's how I got here. And your work has messed with one of my friends."
"Let's say I believe you. Can you tell me everything my experiment has allegedly messed up?"
"Got time to listen?"
Michael's double listened intently as Michael finished his story.
"So basically, it sent my friend to another world and grabbed her back seven years later, but no time had passed here. And it may have transmuted a jungle into that world where it didn't belong." Michael said.
"But we took every precaution!"
"Every precaution you knew of. Time travel and inter-dimensional travel are tricky. Trust me, I've done both."
"So, what now?"
"If you have no objections, I'd like to check out your tech and see if we can fix our respective devices."
"No objections here."
"Good."
Michael walked into the lab with Sam and Rebecca behind him. Michael's double looked up from the screen and nodded.
"Mike, this is Sam and Rebecca. Sam and Rebecca, this is Mike." Michael said.
"She's the one who?" his double asked. Michael nodded affirmatively. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. The only reason I have to be angry wasn't your fault. It happened years after I got there." Rebecca said.
"Well, anyway, all we have to do is get the time machine actually go through time and not dimensions. It'll just be a few tweaks." his double said.
"I hope so." Sam said. "We only have a day left to do it."
"Don't worry." Michael said. "We'll make it."
Michael and his double stood over consoles as Rebecca and Sam looked on.
"Are you okay to keep sliding with us? Seven years is a long time." Sam said.
"Of course. I'd of stayed on that other world, if Jack was still there." Rebecca said. "Did I tell you we'd of gotten married if he hadn't died in that crash?"
"No, you didn't. Why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't want Michael to feel guilty, he always does that thing when he mopes because he feels guilty because," Rebecca started.
"He built the timer and dragged us into this mess. It's his fault." Sam said.
"Exactly." Rebecca said. "Plus, even if I'm seven years older. I'd like to be on my own Earth one day."
"I'm sure." Sam said.
"Guys! We did it!" Michael shouted. "He's got his time travel on track and our timer is no longer vulnerable to interference from it."
"Let's turn it on then!" his double said. He tapped a keypad and the devices started to hum.
"Good, good." Michael said.
"Almost there." his double said.
Suddenly the machine started to groan as consoles started to spark and burst into flames.
"What's going on?" Sam asked.
"It's starting to open a dimensional time warp! It's gonna send this place into a another time or universe unless someone can turn the machine off." Michael's double replied.
"But no one is agile enough to dodge the sparks." Michael said.
"I am." Rebecca said, standing up,
"But, you can't!" Michael pleaded.
"We need to get out of here," Michael's double said. "Or it might send us with it."
"I've been dodging much worse for the past two years." Rebecca said.
"Michael! Come on!" Sam shouted, as he and Michael's double ran out the door.
"Rebecca!" Michael shouted as he got to the door. "I... I love you!"
"I know." Rebecca said, smiling. "Now get out of here!"
Michael nodded and ran out. Rebecca started dodging the sparks and got to the machine's power source. She pulled the lever down when a beam shot out of the machine and hit her.
"Argh!" Rebecca cried as the beam opened a vortex that began to swallow her. It disappeared and the lab was quiet.
Later, Michael and Sam sat on a bench as they awaited the next vortex. Michael's double walked up.
"I just want to say how sorry I am. I'm going to take a step back and get to the theoretical side of it until I'm sure of the theory."
"It's fine. She went out in a blaze of glory. That's what matters." Michael said.
"Anyway, we're about to time out. Wanna see a sneak peak of inter-dimensional travel?" Sam asked.
"Sure." Michael's double said.
Michael aimed the timer and the portal opened, his double standing in awe.
"This is awesome!" his double shouted.
"I know!" Michael shouted as he and Sam jumped into the portal.
They landed in the middle of the park and brushed themselves off.
"Good old Golden Gate Park, nice to see you again." Sam said. Suddenly they heard the sound of a portal opening. "Michael?"
"Not me." Michael said, tapping his pocket, where the timer was.
They looked at the source of the noise as a portal opened above a tree and a figure fell from it. A man was walking past the tree.
"Hey! Watch out!" Michael shouted.
"Huh?" the man asked in an Australian accent. The figure fell into his arms.
Michael and Sam ran over to him, and saw that the figure was Rebecca, seven years younger, now back to her age before the past day's events.
"Rebecca?" Michael asked. "Are you okay?"
"Well, are you okay, Rebecca?" the man asked.
"Jack?" Rebecca asked, looking up at him. Michael and Sam looked at each other.
"How did you know my name?" Jack asked.
"Lucky guess?" Rebecca replied as he put her down.
"Anyway, what were you doing climbing that tree, Miss?" he asked.
"You know what? I don't know." Rebecca replied.
"Anyway, see you around." Jack said. "I have to get back to my friends."
"Explorers?" Rebecca asked.
"Close, exchange students." Jack replied, running off. "Nice meeting you!"
"Are you, our Rebecca?" Michael asked.
"Excuse me, I do not belong to anyone. But if you want to know if I'm the one who saved you from a time portal sucking up a laboratory, then yes." Rebecca said.
"You're back to being your old age!" Sam said.
"Must've been the portal, rejuvenating me. But I can already feel my memories of the past seven years fading." Rebecca said.
"What's the last thing you remember clearly?" Michael asked.
"That you were hungry." Rebecca replied.
"You know what?" Michael asked. "I am hungry. We have about a day here. Let's go get lunch. Lead the way, our intrepid traveler!"
"I shall." Rebecca said. "There is one thing I remember though. Very clearly."
"What is it?" Michael asked.
"I... I love you!" Michael shouted.
"I know." Rebecca said, smiling. "Now get out of here!"
"Oh... Nothing." Rebecca replied. "Let's eat somewhere healthy for a change."
"Oh, come on!" Sam and Michael said in unison.
To Be Continued...