For once things seemed to be going well for Quinn. Wade forgave him, his friends were back and he had the help of a sliding network that would soon bring them all home.
As Diana entered the room the professor was the first to greet her, the two lulling into a conversation. Arturo found himself impressed with her advanced knowledge of physics. She seemed passionate about her field and was more than willing to help, though it did take some convincing and admittance from Geiger for her to believe the group.
"So, you're the Quinn Mallory who shared a body with me for almost a year" Mallory greeted, extending his hand to Quinn as he entered from behind Diana.
"So it would seem. Nice to meet you face to face. I see you're able to walk, is that Geiger's doing?" Quinn replied, taking his hand and shaking it.
"No, I woke up like this. I don't understand why, but I'm certainly not complaining. No offense but it's good to have you out of me" Mallory said with a chuckle.
"None taken, trust me, I'm not complaining either" Quinn replied with a small laugh of his own.
"Where's Maggie?" Mallory asked, turning to take in the other sliders standing nearby.
"It's a little complicated, maybe we should all sit down? We have a lot to talk about"
"So you're telling me that you, me, and Geiger all have unstable, what did you call them?" Mallory questioned aloud.
"Quantum Signatures, and that's not all, there are still fractures present in the multiverse that need to be repaired. If we don't find a way to fix them it could lead to another multiversal collapse" Quinn replied.
"Of course" Mallory groaned with irritation, "The moment I am not only free of you but back home I learn that something else is wrong with me"
"Well, we just need to go over Dr. Geiger's equations and see if they can be used to fix these fractures, right? I say we start now." Diana spoke up, standing, and gesturing for the others to follow.
"Quite right, no time like the present" Arturo agreed, following behind her along with the rest of the group.
"Are things okay between you and Geiger, considering everything that he did to you?" Quinn asked as he lagged behind, standing closer to Mallory.
Mallory looked back, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he replied.
"I don't know. He apologized, claimed it was all an act of desperation. It doesn't excuse what he did to me, but I guess I can let it go since he agreed to help us now. Not only that everything reset, giving us all a second chance. I can walk thanks to him, build a better life for myself, and while being combined with you hampered most of the journey I did enjoy sliding. Truth be told though I don't trust him"
"Yeah, well neither do I. But at least now you and Diana both know what he is capable of. Not only that, the network will be keeping a close eye on him. We shouldn't have to worry about him anymore."
Diana, Arturo, Quinn, and Geiger stood together at a computer terminal, going over his combine equations. Quinn tapped a few keys on the advanced timer, downloading the data into the network's systems as the others continued to study the numbers.
Suddenly Quinn felt the muscles in his body go tight as he began to feel the inklings of a headache coming on. Both Geiger and Mallory, who were off to the side with Wade and Rembrandt, seemed to be feeling the same. Reaching up, Quinn felt wetness on his face. Looking at his moist fingertips he could see the color of crimson.
Arturo was by his side in an instant, grabbing his shoulders as he began to feel weak. Rather than fall on the unforgiving ground, Arturo held him up. The room was spinning, the timer once again slipping from his grip.
He could hear the professor speaking, his tone one of concern as he held the boy. Wade came into view as well, holding the timer and showing it to the professor with a look of panic on her face. Quickly setting him down Arturo vanished from view, typing furiously at the keys of the computer Geiger was previously using.
Turning his head weakly he could see Rembrandt caring for Mallory, Diana caring for Geiger, and Arturo yelling as he tried to figure out the equations on screen. Turning back to Wade, Quinn caught sight of the timer, realization dawning on him as he read the text on the timer.
Fractures Detected
Quantum Signatures Dangerously Unstable
Quinn Mallory
323-935-914-157
Quinn Mallory
435-131-563-907
Oberon Geiger
435-131-563-907
His heart hammered in his chest as he struggled to think, struggled to remain conscious. But as another wave of nausea and dizziness hit him he couldn't hold on any longer.
Quinn found himself in an endless darkness, lights that resembled stars glowing brightly in the distance. He didn't know where he was or where to go to escape this place. Focusing on one of the many lights surrounding him he began to move forward, only to be engulfed in the light, blinding him momentarily. Once his vision returned to him he could see into the lives of countless sliding doubles.
However, he soon realized that these were not just other universes he was peering into. No, these had to be entirely different multiverses. Due to Geiger's experiment's many of the alternate events he saw were no longer possible within the boundaries of his own multiverse.
One example was that despite the reset all of Geiger's doubles did not return, yet in these parallel multiverses he saw dozens of Geigers. He felt bad for the countless innocent Geiger doubles who for whatever reason were not brought back. But on the other hand he at least had peace in knowing another Geiger wouldn't destroy his multiverse any time soon.
It blew his mind to think of it. To know that his multiverse was one of countless others, all of which contained universes with their own Quinn's, Wade's, Arturo's and Rembrandt's. It made him feel small in comparison to the enormous size of all existence.
It would seem Geiger's doubles in these multiverses conducted similar experiments, however, some of these multiverses were able to survive the fractures and repair themselves, while others were forced to reset to earlier points like his own.
It made him wonder, had there always been countless multiverses within a larger Metaverse? Or did Geiger's experiments cause the existing multiverse to split apart?
He saw one multiverse where the microdot malfunctioned and he was not the right Quinn. Rembrandt slid to earth prime only to learn the professor was left behind on Azure world and got home with the help of one of his doubles and Dr. Steven Jenson. His home was not the earth conquered by the Kromaggs, but with the professor's help, they not only saved the world that was but managed to split his double and Mallory, save Wade, and ground Colin. However in the end his double, Wade, Rembrandt, and the professor all were lost once more to their multiverse, sliding randomly in the hopes of getting home while Mallory, Diana, Colin, and Maggie worked on earth prime to try and find them.
In another multiverse, Quinn and his friends were captured by the Kromaggs and forced into a virtual simulation. Quinn experienced the worst life possible, losing his friends and world while the others believed themselves to be home. Quinn eventually entered their simulation and helped them all escape.
In one multiverse Quinn prevented a complete Kromagg takeover by rewriting the entire multiverse himself, choosing the day of his and his friend's first slide as that multiverse's starting point. However, this wiped many lives from existence and caused that multiverse to be incredibly unstable. It would eventually fall apart, but before Quinn could see more he was yanked away.
He saw one group of doubles grow from just the four of them to a group of twenty! The last thing he saw of this group was their Arturo drinking peppermint tea with a young blind girl.
He saw a vortex close, the professor getting to his feet and muttering to himself, a look of terror and despair forming on his face. Quinn tried to reach out to him, but again he was pulled away.
He saw his friends after losing the professor to the pulsar world take comfort from a double who had met many sliders before them.
He saw so many things, so many groups, so many multiverses. If there were countless multiverses within a Metaverse who was to say there weren't more Metaverses as well? Endless possibilities indeed.
As suddenly as this adventure began he felt himself being pulled back, color and sound returning to the dark currently surrounding him.
As Quinn opened his eyes he immediately caught the sight of not one, but three Arturo's hovering over him. He blinked, watching them in amazement, then horror.
"Oh no! Professor! Whatever just happened to me must have split you in three!" Quinn yelled, his mind not quite catching up to him just yet. He tried to sit up, but the center Arturo put a hand to his shoulder, keeping him down.
"Mr. Mallory please calm down, everything is fine" the center Arturo spoke calmly. He opened his mouth to continue speaking but was cut off by the right Arturo.
"Split me in three? We are from the network you blistering idiot!" He yelled, looking at Quinn as if he grew a second head.
The other two Arturo's paid him no mind, the left one pulling out an advanced timer of his own before speaking.
"After yours, Geiger's, and Mallory's collapse we came in to help. Together with your Arturo and Dr. Davis, we managed to find a way to repair the fractures on this world and stabilize your quantum signatures"
"We brought you here to rest after your ordeal, but the good news is we can use this equation to fix the remaining fractures throughout the multiverse" the center Arturo said, offering Quinn the advanced timer his double had given him before.
Taking the timer and nodding his thanks Quinn finally looked around the room, realizing he was at the hotel.
"Where are my friends?" He asked, looking at the three.
"The other room with your double and Geiger" the center Arturo replied, turning and heading to the door, "I shall fetch them for you"
"Thanks," Quinn said, laying his head back and taking a deep breath. When his friends found out what just happened to him it would blow their minds. He couldn't wait to see the look on his professor's face.
Authors Notes:
The idea behind this chapter was to essentially make every piece of Sliders media, from the TV show to the comics to fan fiction's canon in some way. Enjoy a fanfic that normally can't fit in with another you enjoy? Well it simply happened in another multiverse!
Some of the multiverses Quinn peered into were other Fanfics I quite enjoy and highly recommend. They are as follows.
Renewals by Marc C
Slide Effects by Ireactions
Sliders: Reborn found on Earth Prime Dot Com
The Slide Factor series by Classchic1
Tea and Sympathy by MelindaYoung