"If you expect to ever get out of here, Quinn Mallory, you're going to have to give me a little more information than just your name"
Quinn was irritated, to say the least. He and his friends were practically kidnapped by this world's military. They were forced to separate, the others likely dealing with an interrogation process of their own, or at least that's what Quinn assumed was happening to them. Whatever happened to them he hoped they were unharmed. He hadn't regarded the woman pacing around him thus far, instead keeping his eyes ahead of him, until now.
"I wasn't born yesterday," Quinn began, finally turning his attention to Maggie, "I don't expect you to ever let me out of here."
"The survival of this country is at stake and it is obvious you are not willing to cooperate," Maggie replied, raising her voice as she leaned in closer to him, "so I'm going to assume you're a Russian operative."
"Pulsars are about to nuke a million innocent lives. What difference does it make who I am? Why are you doing nothing about it?" Quinn asked, his voice harsh.
"This is not a game, Mallory. The loser doesn't just pick up his marbles and go home."
"I never claimed this was a game," Quinn bit back, "there are no games when millions of lives are at stake"
She glared at him, standing up straight once more as she heard the door behind her open. She turned, arms behind her back as she stood aside, Angus Rickman entering the room and walking closer to the table. Quinn looked at him immediately.
"Where are my friends?" he asked, concerned for their safety and internally hoping they weren't having to deal with a situation similar to his own.
"In another room," Rickman replied shortly, quickly shifting his attention from Quinn to Maggie, "Captain?"
"I'm getting nowhere, sir"
"That's because there's nowhere to get," Quinn bit out, spotting a young man using a wheelchair and dressed as a scientist entering the room behind Rickman, "Since you have the guns, the ball's in your court."
Rickman walked behind Quinn as the young scientist stopped next to the table, watching the scene with interest. Quinn turned his head to follow Rickman as he stopped at his other side, pulling out the Egyptian timer and leaning closer to show him.
"Well, then, let's play a different game. Why don't you tell us about this?" he asked with a glare.
There was silence for a moment, Quinn glaring back at Rickman, unsure how he wanted to respond to the question. He didn't have much time to contemplate, Maggie soon pushing him to answer Rickman's question. He decided to be honest with them.
"It's called a timer," Quinn told him, "It has to do with parallel dimensions"
"Does it open the Einstein Rosen Podolsky bridge?" The young scientist asked, smiling as Quinn turned to him with a look of surprise.
"Yes, you know about sliding?" Quinn asked.
"I'm Dr. Steven Jensen. I spent the last three years trying to develop equipment to access parallel worlds. Are you from a parallel dimension?" he answered, looking excited at the prospect.
"Yeah, we arrived just before Jariabek died. We've been lost for over two years now." Quinn replied.
Jensen looked from Quinn to Rickman, nodding for him to follow as he backed away from the table. Rickman complied, standing straight and following Jensen until the two were out of earshot. He leaned in as Jensen whispered, Maggie watching Quinn with suspicion.
Quinn himself felt a great deal of interest in the idea of meeting a fellow scientist who worked on Sliding technology. However, these people were holding him and his friends hostage. Not only that, they were the ones who killed Jariabek. By all accounts, these people reminded him too much of Logan St. Clair and her henchmen. Did every slider they met recently have to be some gun-toting hothead? He was pulled from his thoughts as Rickman once again approached, leaning closer as he spoke.
"As I'm sure Captain Beckett has informed you, we are at full military alert. Your interaction with Dr. Jariabek borders on espionage."
He was nearly in Quinn's face now, whispering the last part menacingly.
"But I just told you, I'm from a parallel world," Quinn replied.
"Yes," Rickman agreed, "Which makes your case rather unique and open to negotiation."
"I've had some problems with the development of sliding" Jensen chimed in, causing Quinn to internally roll his eyes.
He knew exactly where this conversation was going. He helps them with their sliding problems, they let him and his friends go. He almost gave sliding to a monster before. His nefarious female double who wanted to use it to strip other worlds of their natural resources. He didn't like the idea of helping these people, but admittedly he didn't see any alternative choices. Rubbing his forehead he turned away for a moment, closing his eyes in thought. Eventually, he looked back to Rickman.
"What happens if I decide not to help you?" he asked.
"I assume you want this back?" Rickman answered with his own question, once again showing Quinn the Egyptian timer.
"How do I know you'll let us slide in three days?"
"You have my word, as an officer and a gentleman"
"You have anything more convincing than that?"
With a loud sigh, Rickman once again moved the timer from view, placing both his hands behind his back.
"The penalty for espionage is death by firing squad"
Quinn was soon reunited with his friends, relieved to see they were all safe and unharmed. The four of them followed after Maggie and Rickman, the second of which spoke as they walked up a set of stairs.
"You will be confined to this base but you have the freedom to move around at will. Just don't do anything foolish."
As he spoke he turned to Maggie, offering her the Egyptian timer.
"Carry on, Captain"
With that he turned, walking away as Maggie turned to address the four of them. At this point, they reached the top of the stairs, Wade and the others inspecting their surroundings.
"Your quarters are ready," She began, turning her attention to Quinn and the Professor, "Dr. Jensen is waiting for both of you. He's right this way."
She turned on her heel, beginning to walk as Wade stepped forward a little, her eyes burrowing into the other woman's back.
"There's something about that girl I don't like," she whispered, "No, make that everything about that girl I don't like. You trust these people?"
"No," Quinn answered, "but we don't have a choice."
"Well, I've been on enough bases to know that there's always a way to sneak off," Rembrandt told them, the three friends turning to him as he spoke, "I'm gonna try to find us a back door out of here."
With that, the sliders nodded to each other, each going their separate ways.
"This is truly remarkable," Arturo whispered, mostly to himself, as he looked at the complex system standing beside him.
"You say that Dr. Jariabek designed this system?" he asked, turning to address Maggie.
"That's correct," she replied, approaching him.
"So you thank him by killing him" Arturo responded, his voice laced with venom, "I would've thought a more appropriate reward might've been a Presidential Commendation and a pay raise."
"Just because I wear this uniform doesn't mean I agree with everything we do," Maggie replied, her own voice wavering as she spoke.
"On my world, an officer would resign rather than perform a dishonorable act." Arturo bit back, the two watching each other in silence for a moment before he continued.
"I suppose it's different here."
"You've got the ability to track wormholes and store the coordinates of every world you slide to" Quinn muttered in disbelief, eyes reading over the files given to him by Steven Jensen. He slammed the file shut, turning his attention to the doctor as the two traveled the grounds together.
"That's something I wish I had. There's a few world's I'd like to go back to"
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Jensen asked, the two coming to a stop. Quinn turned to look at him, smiling slightly as he saw the look of interest on Jensen's face. He must be interested in hearing about parallel worlds.
"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing my friend Gillian again," Quinn admitted, "or going back to the world with the Azure gate bridge, so I could comfort my mom's double who also lost her Quinn. I'd especially like to return to the Mystic world"
"Mystic world?" Jensen inquired.
"We landed on a world where my double took on the role of a powerful Sorcerer. He tried to help us get home, but it didn't work. I wouldn't mind working with him again, I think he could really have helped us if we had a second shot at it"
Jensen nodded in understanding, a look of sympathy replacing his previous look of interest.
"I couldn't imagine being lost to the multiverse. But then again, I can't even slide. Anything I sent into the vortex corrupts the integrity of the wormhole and drops out into oblivion"
"Yeah, that is a problem," Quinn replied, shuddering at the thought. He could only imagine how bad of a situation this could have been for him. What if he had jumped into the vortex with an issue like this present? He didn't exactly assure it was safe before going in headfirst.
"Look, I know you can stall me," Jensen began, "So I'll make you a deal better than Rickman's. You give me the ability to slide and I'll give you the ability to imprint parallel Earth coordinates and track wormholes. You never know, it might help you get home someday."
That was true, Quinn even stated it before. If he could revisit worlds, he could have returned to his double and tried finding home countless times with his help. Maybe they could have even worked together to find the Azure sliders and bring them home too, not that he would have known about them at the time. Still, the idea of helping lost Sliders find home felt good to him. After all, he knew how it felt to long for home. But instead, it had been random, and he was no closer to finding home than he was at the beginning of the journey.
"All right," Quinn agreed, "First we see if my power chip is compatible with your timer."
"Agreed"
