I was in a state of euphoria for a couple of minutes. After two years of sliding, I was finally reunited with my parents. I was home.
But then I remembered. I was the only one who made it here. Quinn was not here. Maggie was not here. Rembrandt- the version that slid with me for over a year, not the version whom my dad worked with- was not here.
"I'd like to introduce you to two people whom I;ve worked with for the past few years," said Dad. "This is Colonel Rembrandt Brown, the director of Slidecage Control, and his assistant, Chief Master Sergeant Michael Hurley.
"Hi," I said, looking at Rembrandt and the familiar-looking bespectacled man whom I guessed was Sergeant Hurley.
"Well, I heard about you from Dr. Mallory," said Colonel Brown. "It was a tragic story, one of the tragedies of the war with the maggs. But now it has a happy ending."
"I'm just glad to be here," I said. I then looked at my parents. "How did you know it was me?"
"Captain Shays told us that he matched your fingerprints and retina with our son," said Mom. "Before we relocated you, we wanted to ensure that we got our sons back if we ever came for them, and not any duplicates that we might have missed. So we had someone plant a bone graft on your first cervical vertebra. All we had to do is scan for the bone graft, which would give your date of birth in reverse. When the guard scanned your neck and showed us the readout, that was when we knew you were our boy."
"Colonel Brown," said Dad. "We'd like to spend the rest of the day with our son. Could you please inform Dr. Arturo and the others?"
"Sure," replied the colonel. "I'll tell him what happened."
"Let's go home," said Mom.
And so we got into my parents' car, a red Toyota Samurai. Soon we were out of Cheyenne Mountain and heading to Colorado Springs.
Along the way, I explained to them what happened, and how I got here.
"So Quinn is still out there," said Dad.
"Yeah," I replied. "Marc LeBeau is watching over him though. He watched over me, contacted me in my dreams, and he was the one who led me here."
"Colin, how did you get past the slidecage?" asked Mom.
"The first time we tried, Quinn and I ended up in that world where the slidecage redirects wormholes; we had a hell of a time getting out. This time, I did not use a wormhole; I simply seeped through the dimensional barriers. I guess being unstuck, I was the only one who can pentrate the slidecage. The kromaggs knew this too; they studied me to find a way around the slidecage."
"The kromaggs?" asked Dad.
"The very ones who waged war against us on this world," I said. "They've conquered other worlds, including the one where you hid Quinn."
"They did?" asked Mom.
"Yes. Quinn's adoptive mother gave him the microdot and he learned about where he was from and about me. One of the reasons we tried to come here was to get the weapon you used to drive the kromaggs from this world."
"Oh," said Dad.
"Well, you say you can now slide anywhere, anytime, without a timer or a sliding generator?" asked Mom.
"Yes," I replied. "I want to spend time with you, to get to know you better. I do intend to go and look for Quinn and bring him here. He's still out there. I've got to find him."
"Don't leave too soon," said Dad. "There is much you should catch up on."
A few minutes later, the car was driving on a residential street.
"There's the house," said Mom.
I looked, and saw a two-story house, painted blue, with a porch and a white picket fence.
"We have a spare bedroom," said Dad. "I guess it's your bedroom now."
The garage door opened, and Mom parked the car inside the garage. There was nothing unordinary about it; there was a washing machine and a dryer and a shelf filled with boxes of detergent and another shelf in a corner with canisters of fluids used in automobiles.
I got out of the car; my parents opened a door. I went in, and entered the living room.
The room was huge, with a red carpet covering the floor. There were sofas, a coffee table, a huge Toshiba color television with a cable box, and an Aiwa stereo system. There were photographs on the fireplace mantle, the fireplace being in the back of the living room, bear the door to the backyard. The dining room and kitchen wereto the left, and to the right was a small hallway.
"The guest room is there as well as the first floor bathroom," said Dad. "Upstairs there is a study where we have a computer with Internet access."
"Michael, I think I'll make the call and tell the good news," said Mom.
"She'll be surprised."
I took a closer look at the pictures on the fireplace. I saw a wedding picture of Mom and Dad, with Mom in a white wedding dress and Dad in a black tuxedo. I saw three baby pictures.
Two of them were of me and Quinn. But there was a third one.
Then I looked at another picture, a picture of a teenage girl in a cap and gown, which was probaly taken for her high school graduation.
"Who is this?" I asked, though I suspected the answer.
"That is Katie," said Dad. "Katherine Amanda Mallory. Your younger sister."
"I have a sister," I slowly whispered. This did not surprise me. After two years of sliding, few things surprise me. "Where is she?"
"After graduating high school, she decided to attend Stanford University back west in California. She intends to go to law school after graduating college."
I looked at the photograph of my sister. I then realized I did see her before. On a few occasions when I visited Quinn's duplicates, I saw a photograph of a dark-haired girl. I never asked Quinn about her, since I did not want to be involved in the personal matters of Quinn's duplicates, especially if my duplicate was his brother. God knows how much trouble I got into on account of my duplicates.
Then I remembered something else. Katie here was the young lady I was looking right at when I arrived in this world.
She will definitely be surprised when she meets me.
"You told him about Katie," said Mom as she came down the stairs.
"Yeah," replied Dad.
"I just spoke to her about Colin."
"Did she believe you?" I asked. "I mean, you must have told her I was dead."
"Well, I was on the phone with her for half an hour. She told she she's willing to fly over here for the weekend."
"That's great," I said. "I'm looking forward to meeting her."
"Well, I guess I should buy plane tickets for her."
"Do you have a family album?" I asked.
"Yes," replied Mom. "It should be in the bookshelf in the guest bedroom."
"Well, I'd like to go look through the family album. Anyway, are you going to celebrate dinner in a restaraunt?"
"Actually, we'll just order pizza for tonight. Your dad and I want Katie to be here to celebrate your homecoming. I'm thinking of going to a seafood restaurant tomorrow; getting back our son certainly warrants the occasion."
"I'll be looking at the family album. You can come along if you want."
"I've some matters to attend to."
I went inside the first floor hallway; there were only two doors, one of which led to the first floor bathroom. I opened the other door and entered. I was in a small bedroom, with a small bed fit for only one person. There was a bookshelf filled with books. I searched until I found an old photo album. Judging from its condition, it had to be at least thirty years old.
The first page was a photo of a newborn baby, which was me. There were pictures of me with Mom and Dad, who looked just as they did when I had that microdot on my forehead. There were pictures of me in a walker and in a high chair. There were pictures of another newborn infant, which I figured was Quinn. There were more pictures of Quinn together with Mom and Dad, and there was a picture of me and Quinn, taken about twenty-six years ago.
Then I turned the page, and there were no more pictures of me or Quinn. There was a picture of another newborn infant, which I knew was Katie. The rest of the album had pictures of Katie, taken at various stages of growing up. There were pictures of her posing in the house, and in the backyard, and some of them holding a basketball.
I closed the album. The cover was titled "The Mallory Family".
I looked past this universe. I wondered where Quinn was. I hoped Marc LeBeau would tell him that I am home. I have the power to bring Quinn home; all I had to do was find him.
I decided to peruse some of the books on the bookshelf. I reached for a book on parallel universes. I read about how the results of the double-slit experiment involving photons proved the existence of parallel universes, and how travel to parallel universes was achieved with the invention of the sliding generator in 1942. I also read about how the slidecage was created after the last war between the humans and kromaggs.
I rubbed my chin, and I noiticed it felt fuzzy. I then remembered that I had not shaved nor bathed since the previous world. Well, I guess there was no time like the present.
I went to the bathroom upstairs, because the downstairs bathroom did not have a tub. Below the sink there was a packet of Bic razors. I used the Gillette foamy shaving cream to lather my face, and then used the Bic razor to shave. After rinsing my face, I felt smooth.
I then stepped into the shower and turned on the water. I relaxed as the warm water splashed against my body. It was like it was washing away two years of hardship. I was home; I was going to begin a brand new chapter in life. I knew I would have to find my place in this world; that was not my focus, only the water and the Ivory soap was my concern.
After being in there for a good twenty minutes, I turned off the shower. I dried myself with a towel, and got dressed and left the bathroom.
I looked through the bedrooms. I noted the master bedroom where Mom and Dad slept. I then saw another bedrooom. It contained a twin sized bed, as well as a dresser and a bookshelf with books and stuffed animals. In the corner was a Magnavox television with a Sony video cassette recorder and a Toshiba HVC player connected.
The photographs on the dresser indicated that this was Katie's room.
For dinner that night, we had pizza delivered to us from Pizza Hut. The pizza was very saucy and the cheese was very molten. I washed it down with Coke.
"So," I asked. "Is Katie coming here?"
"Yeah," replied Dad. "She'll be here tomorrow. We're gonna pick her up at the airport."
"Would you like to come?" asked Mom.
"No," I replied. "I'd like to greet her here."
"We've reserved a seafood lunch," said Mom. "It's going to be a special occasion."
"I have an old suit which should fit you," said Dad.
"Wow, we must be going to a really expensive place," I said.
"It's seafood," said Dad. "Of course it's expensive."
"Colin wouldn't know that," said Mom. "He's only been in this world for a day or two."
"I like seafood," I said. "I once had a job catching fish for this fishing operation operating off Redondo Beach. That's in California."
"So you were a fisherman," said Dad.
"I had a lot of jobs, even before I met Quinn and started sliding. Tell me about your work."
"Your mom and I both work for the Department of Defense at the Cheyenne Mountain facility. I am the chief technician for Slidecage Control; your mom works in the NBC Warfare Research Lab. That was where the Voraton was invented. Your mother worked on the project. She saved a lot of lives."
"It was something that had to be done," said Mom. "We weren't going to surrender to the Kromagg Alliance, and more people on both sides would have died if the war was fought the way it was fought."
"What was your experience with sliding?" I asked.
"Your mom and I worked for a sliding research facility on Yerba Buena Island near San Francisco," said Dad. "I was into the main quantum research; your mom did the biological research. We married in 1969. After the war started, we were both recruited by the government to work in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. We both decided to move to Colorado; we'd be working in a secure facility and the pay was outstanding. After the war was over, we chose to keep our jobs and stay in Colorado."
"So this is where Katie grew up," I said.
"Yes," said Mom.
"I was wondering, what was it like sending me and Quinn to live with your duplicates?" I asked.
"It was the most difficult decision we made," said Dad. "The Kromagg Alliance forces had invaded the U.S. There was a long and bitter struggle. The U.S. forces kept losing more and more ground. The kromaggs overran the Great Plains. We wanted you both tio grow up in a safer world."
"Choosing the right world was difficult," said Mom. "We wanted our duplicates to raise our sons. The only suitable worlds would be worlds where we had living duplicateswho were married but did not have any living son who was your duplicate. It took two months to identify suitable worlds for you and your brother. So we took you to that world you grew up in and spoke to our duplicates. They had no living children-their son Colin died at birth. They agreed to take care of him. We left a microdot in a locket, and told them if we did not come back, to give it to him when he grows up so he will know his true heritage."
"Did you come back for me?" I asked.
"When we returned, we learned that you and our duplicates were dead," said Dad. "We found out there was a flu epidemic months earlier that killed a quarter of the population of San Francisco. We were devastated. Then we looked for Quinn and we couldn't find him. Then the war was over. We lost our sons becuase of this. Katie was born two years later, and raising her comforted us."
"Does she know the whole story?" I asked.
"Yes," said Mom. "We told her about her brothers when she was thirteen."
We continued to chat for a while, and then it was time to go to bed. I looked forward to seeing Katie tomorrow.
The next morning, I woke up and then had Froot Loops and toast and Minute Maid orange juice for breakfast.
"We're going to pick up Katie at the airport," said Mom. "You sure you do not want to come?"
"I think I'll greet her at home," I said.
My parents then went to the garage, where they presumably got into one of the cars and drove off.
I looked at myself. I wanted to get dressed. After all, I was about to formally meet my sister for the first time. I put on a button-down shirt and some khakis.
I browsed the newspaper and turned on the television. I decided to learn much about events of this world twenty-five years after the end of the war.
About forty minutes later, I heard the garage open. I looked at the door between the living room and the garage. The door opened seconds later. Standing in the doorway was a young dark-haired woman, the same person I saw when I arrived in this world.From the look on her face, I could tell she was surprised to see me.
"Hello, my name is Colin," I said.
"My name is Katie," she replied. "I guess I'm your sister."
I then hugged her tightly as I did with my parents.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
"Well, this was a complete surprise. Mom called me and told me you came home. I mean, for most of my life I thought you and my other brother died in parallel universes. But you're alive."
"I did not die in that flu epidemic like my adoptive parents," I said. "My relaltives took care of me. And Quinn's alive too. He was the one who told me of where I came from, and I joined with him."
"Is Quinn here?"
"No, I got separated from him almost a year ago. I made it here, Katie. And I am sure I will find him and bring him and reunite this family."
"Well," said Dad, "we'd better get dressed for lunch. We're having seafood now."
"Dad, I don't have anything fancy to wear," said Katie.
"That dress you wore during your high school graduation is still in your closet, dear," said Mom. "It should still fit you."
So we got dressed.
Dad gave me a black coat, black pants, a white shirt, a red necktie, black dress shoes, and black dress socks. I went down to my bedroom and got dressed. It took a few minutes to put everything on. I then went to the living room to look at ymself in the mirror hanging on the wall near the front door, since there was no mirror in my room.
I went up to the second floor. I saw Mom come out of Katie's room.
"Colin," she said, "you're dressed."
"Is Katie finished dressing?" I asked.
"Yes. She's putting on makeup."
I entered Katie's room and Katie was inside, looking at the mirror and powdering her face. I closed the door and then stood right behind her.
"I guess the recent events are a complete surprise, what with me popping in right in front of you," I said.
"Yeah," she said, looking at me through the mirror. "i didn't know where you came from. We were about to call the police."
"Now that I think of it, it wasn't a coincidence that I appeared in front of you. I mean, I came here to reunite with my blood and you are blood like Mom and Dad."
"You arrived in San Francisco. How did you get here to Colorado Springs?"
"I hitchhiked."
"Hitchhiked?"
"Well, I didn't have local currency; it was the only way to get here."
Katie got up and we both left the room and went downstairs.
"Are you ready?" asked Dad, dressed in a three-piece suit.
"Yeah," I said. "Let's have lunch."
So we all went into the garage. Katie and I sat in the back seat of the Toyota Samurai. The garage opened and the car pulled out of the driveway.
After driving for a few minutes through the streets of Colorado Springs, we reached Captain Kirk's Seafood Palace, which was located on Nevada Avenue. Dad parked the Samurai in the parking lot and we all got out.
We reached the door of the restaurant and went inside. We were in the front waiting area where there were couches. The maitre'd stood behind a podium.
"Hello," he said. "Reservation?"
"Mallory, party of four," said Dad.
"Right this way, Mr. Mallory."
We were led to a circular table with five seats surrounding them; we sat on four of the seats. the one thing I noticed was the opulence of the place. All of the tables, like the one we are sitting in, were covered in white tablecloths. The carpet had this design where the logo of a ship's steering wheel was repeated. There was an aquarium with fish swimming in it. The chairs we sat in had intricate patterns carved into it, with the steering wheel logo carved in the back. I looked around and saw a bunch of other people sitting down having lunch; they were all dressed in suits.
A waitress clad in a red vest and white shirt approached with some menus.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked.
"I'd like some beer," I said. "Budweiser."
The others ordered their drinks, and then I looked at the menu.
It looked like a typical menu in a seafood restaurant, with appetizers and entrees. The things that stood out were the prices.
They were all quite expensive!
The Ultimate Feast, for example, was seventy-five dollars! the Admiral's Feast was seventy dollars. The crab-stuffed sole was fifty-six dollars. A Maine lobster tail was forty-seven dollars, and the Rock lobster tail was sixty-eight dollars. Fish and chips was forty dollars.
I noted that there were a few non-seafood items on the entree list; they were between twenty and thirty dollars.
Minutes later, the waitress came back for our order.
"I'll have the Ultimate Feast," I told her.
And so we were served the food. The appetizer we ordered was the spinach artichoke dip, which was a mixture of spinach, artichokes, and cream cheese. We had tortilla chips for dipping. We all dipped into the mixture and ate it. Then the entrees were served. I looked at my entree, served on a ceramic plate. It had a Maine lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp, scallops, and french fried potatoes. There was ketchup for the fries, a cocktail sauce for the shrimp, and hot drawn butter for the crab and lobster. I then proceeded to eat.
"So Colin," said Katie, "tell me about your journey."
and so I did. I told her about how I first met Quinn and Rembrandt and Maggie, about how we were trying to find our home world, about how I became unstuck, and how I managed to find my way home.
"They ought to make that into a movie," said Katie. "what was your life like before you met Quinn?"
"Well, my adoptive parents died when I was young, and I was raised by my grandparents and uncles and aunts who lived in San Jose. After graduating high school, I moved south to El Segundo. I worked odd jobs such as farm hand or fisherman. I had an interest in science, so I experimented with electricity and gliders and stuff. I was hoping to patent an invention or two, maybe someone would give me a scholarship so I could attend some prestigious university and become a research professor. I actually patented a few inventions, but I never got a scholarship. That was what my life was like until I met Quinn over two years ago."
"What was your world like?"
"Well, electricity and cars and air travel and computers were not available to the public," I answered. "The primary mode of transportation was horse and wagon, and the primary mode of long-distance communication was mail-not e-mail, but just mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Indoor plumbing was only available in the big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. I was living in El Segundo, which was primitive even for my time."
"What was Quinn like?"
"He was a smart, athletic person with a kind heart, always willing to help out. He was the one who built a sliding generator in his mom's basement. He took three other people on an interdimensional journey. They got lost and he tried to find his way home. Three years ago, two of his fellow sliders- Wade Welles and Rembrandt Brown-made it home, and he and Maggie Beckett were left behind. They managed to follow Wade and Rembrandt, and when they got there, the kromaggs had already taken over."
"How did Quinn know that was the world he grew up in?"
"Rembrandt told him. Rembrandt was there for three months, and he spent the first two weeks researching his world. Everything matched upo to what he knew about home, including his three-year absence."
"So there was a war between kromaggs and humans on that world too."
"Yes. Quinn learned that he had a brother, and that the kromaggs lost on the world where he was born. So he decided to begin the journey again. We later leanred that a weapon was used to drive the kromaggs from our birth world."
"What was his world like, before the kromaggs took over?"
"Well, people there had access to cars and trains and airplanes and computers. It's a lot like our world, in fact. Quinn could tell you more, as he lived there."
I looked at the empty chair at our table. It reminded me that our family was incomplete; Quinn had not returned.
"Did you ever encounter another version of me?" asked Katie.
"No, I haven't," I said. "I never knew you existed before, so I had no reason to find out about any sister I might have. Whenever there was enough time to look, we looked for Quinn, and if Quinn was unable to help us, we left him alone. We try to avoid being involved in the lives of our duplicates."
"But there could be another me pout there; maybe one who grew up with her versions of Colin and Quinn."
"Well, I've observed my duplicate's lives before," I said. "and I did learn from them. I do know that my life is my own, and I will have to choose based upon the way my life is."
I looked around and I noticed a bunch of people in suits sitting at an adjacent table; they seemed to be observing us.
"Tell us more about your travels," said Katie.
I looked at my food, which was nearly finished. "If I told you about everything for the past two years, we'd be here until closing time," I said. "But I will tell you my first experience in sliding since my reunion with Quinn. When I jumped into the wormhole, I flew through this tunnel of light. When I arrived, there was this vehicle approaching me. Quinn managed to get me out of the way. It was the first time I saw a truck. Anyway, I got caught up in this plot to steal bone grafts from corpses, since bone grafts are used as identification on that world I was in. Everything turned out okay, and Quinn and I slid to the next world."
"Wow," said Katie. "you have a lot of interesting stories to tell. My life is boring in comparison."
the waitress came back to our table. "Excuse me, are you done?" she asked us.
"We're done," said Dad.
Soon, the waitress brought back the check. I looked at it, and the whole thing cost three hundred twenty-five dollars. Dad paid for it with a credit card.
We left Captain Kirk's and then headed home. We were all full from the huge lunch we had, and we would probably not eat much for dinner. Katie went into the kitchen and then took out a cell phone.
"I'd like to know more about you," I said. "Back at the restaurant, all we were talking about was me."
Katie put away the cell phone. "Well, okay," she said. "My life is probably not as exciting as your life was."
"Well, I did slide through dozens of different worlds for two years. But let's talk about you."
"I'll start off. I was born on September 11, 1977-that was the day the slidecage went online. Mom was giving birth to me in the hospital while Dad was in Cheyenne Mountain overseeing the activation of the slidecage. He got word of me being born after the slidecage was activated. I had a typical childhood. I grew, I went to school and leanred about math and science and history. I was into basketball, and I was on the basketball team in middle school. My parents told me about their involvement in the war with the kromaggs when I was thirteen. They also told me about you and Quinn, and how they hid you both away, and then lost you. I went to high school here in Colorado Springs and I was in the girls' basketball team. I spent much of my teenage years studying and practicing for basketball. I even played in the state championships. I also learned how to ski-something that a girl growing up next door to the Rockies would learn. I graduated in June of 1995 and I got scholarships to play basketball in several universities. I chose Stanford because it was near where my parents met and got married."
"What was life like in Stanford?" I asked.
"Well, it was a new experience," said Katie. "For one thing, there was not snow on the ground during the winter. I lived in the dorms for the first year. I made a couple of friends there as well as on the basketball team. My major there was criminal justice; I wanted to pursue a career in law in case I did not succeed in professional basketball. During my free time, I visited landmarks in San Francisco, which was about a forty minute ride from Stanford on the BART train. I had a job as a waitress at a Black Angus restaurant, and I am scheduled to start a summer internship in San Francisco. I expect to graduate next year."
"Is there anything else?" I asked.
Katie opened the door of the Kenmore refirgerator, as if to get something, and then she closed it without taking anything out. "I'm getting married."
"Married?" I asked. I looked at her left hand, and noticed a ring on her left ring finger with a diamond in it. "Who is your fiance? Where did you find him?"
"His name's Lee Tan. I met him my first year of Stanford. He actually lived in the same dorm building as I did."
Then I remmebered that when I first saw Katie the moment I arrived, I saw her sitting on a man's lap. That must have been Lee Tan. "Was it love at first sight?" I asked.
"No, it was not. We got along together well, but we did not start seeing each other until the spring of 1997. He proposed to me last year, and we're going to get married this year. It is so amazing. First I identify the man whom I'll spend the rest of my life with, and then I reunite with my long-lost brother. I'm glad you'll be there for my wedding."
"Listen, Katie," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and staring into her brown eyes. "I'm going to find Quinn. I will make sure Quinn is there to see you get married."
"You can do that?"
"I will do that."
"Thanks, Colin."
"I'm your big brother."
"Well, I'm gonna call Lee." She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Lee? This is Katie.....I just had lunch with my brother. He's alive........He was the guy who just appeared in front of us in Dirk's basement........Well, of course he'll be at our wedding.......My other brother's still alive, and Colin is going to bring him home so he can be at our wedding as well........I'll be heading back Sunday. You'll pick me up at the airport, right?.....See you tomorrow."
"How's your fiance doing?" I asked.
"Fine," replied Katie. "We were planning to go on a date today, but after a few minutes he agreed to postpone it until Thursday night, after our last final exams. Which reminds me that I've got to study for these finals. I'm glad I brought my books." She then left the kitchen. I decided to go to the living room. Dad was sitting on the couch, watching television. I decided to sit down and join him.
We sat in the Toyota Samurai approaching the Colorado Springs airport. I had spent today and yesterday getting to know Katie and my parents, and I even assisted my sister with her studies. But she was scheduled to fly back to California Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to say goodbye to her.
The car parked next to the American Airlines terminal. Katie's flight was in thirty minutes.
"Goodbye, Colin," said Katie as she hugged me.
"Goodbye, Katie," i said before kissing her on the cheek.
"I guess I'll see you all Friday when I fly back here."
"Bye," said Mom.
"Katie," I said, "I'm going to bring Quinn back. That I promise."
We saw Katie enter the terminal, and then we got back into the car. As we headed home, I thought of my promise to my parents and sister to bring Quinn home.
Marc LeBeau contacted me in my dreams again.
"Well, I'm home," I said. "Now I need to bring Quinn back here."
"It is not yet time," said LeBeau. "But the time for your reunion approaches quickly."
"I can self-slide. I could just find Quinn and then come to him."
"That is not possible now. Colin, I must inform you of an impending danger. You see...."
And then he disappeared.
I woke up the next day, and I had breakfast as usual. Mom and Dad came downstairs.
"Are you leaving now?" asked Dad. "Are you going to look for Quinn?"
"As soon as I can find him," I replied. "I'm not ready yet."
"In the meantime, we need to make a place for you in this world," said Mom. "You don't have a driver's license or employment history or a bank account or anything. your father and I were thinking of pulling strings to get you a job so you could have some measure of independence."
"How did you find the right world?" asked Dad.
"Well, what I did was I went into some meditative trance and then reached out to find out where you were. I knew there was a slidecage, so I tried to feel the slidecage. And then I appeared in your world."
"you didn't appear in front of us," said Mom.
"Well, I still need to fine tune my self-sliding. But I intend to get dressed, and I will go find Quinn."
Then I heard the doorbell ring. Dad answered the front door, and I saw two Air Force men. One of them was the Air Force security officer who questioned me when I went to Cheyenne Mountain on Friday.
"Colin Mallory," said Captain Shays.
"Hi," I said. "Is there anything I could help you with?"
"Mr. Mallory, your story went up the chain of command, and the Pentagon is interested. They sent an officer to ask you some more questions. She'll be going to Cheyenne Mountain. We'd like you to come with us."
"Captain Shays," said Mom, "will it be okay if we brought Colin to Cheyenne? We're heading there anyway."
"I don't see a problem, Dr. Mallory," replied the Air Force captain. "We'll be right behind you."
And so i got dressed and got into the Toyota Samurai with Mom and Dad and we headed to Cheyenne Mountain.
But then I remembered. I was the only one who made it here. Quinn was not here. Maggie was not here. Rembrandt- the version that slid with me for over a year, not the version whom my dad worked with- was not here.
"I'd like to introduce you to two people whom I;ve worked with for the past few years," said Dad. "This is Colonel Rembrandt Brown, the director of Slidecage Control, and his assistant, Chief Master Sergeant Michael Hurley.
"Hi," I said, looking at Rembrandt and the familiar-looking bespectacled man whom I guessed was Sergeant Hurley.
"Well, I heard about you from Dr. Mallory," said Colonel Brown. "It was a tragic story, one of the tragedies of the war with the maggs. But now it has a happy ending."
"I'm just glad to be here," I said. I then looked at my parents. "How did you know it was me?"
"Captain Shays told us that he matched your fingerprints and retina with our son," said Mom. "Before we relocated you, we wanted to ensure that we got our sons back if we ever came for them, and not any duplicates that we might have missed. So we had someone plant a bone graft on your first cervical vertebra. All we had to do is scan for the bone graft, which would give your date of birth in reverse. When the guard scanned your neck and showed us the readout, that was when we knew you were our boy."
"Colonel Brown," said Dad. "We'd like to spend the rest of the day with our son. Could you please inform Dr. Arturo and the others?"
"Sure," replied the colonel. "I'll tell him what happened."
"Let's go home," said Mom.
And so we got into my parents' car, a red Toyota Samurai. Soon we were out of Cheyenne Mountain and heading to Colorado Springs.
Along the way, I explained to them what happened, and how I got here.
"So Quinn is still out there," said Dad.
"Yeah," I replied. "Marc LeBeau is watching over him though. He watched over me, contacted me in my dreams, and he was the one who led me here."
"Colin, how did you get past the slidecage?" asked Mom.
"The first time we tried, Quinn and I ended up in that world where the slidecage redirects wormholes; we had a hell of a time getting out. This time, I did not use a wormhole; I simply seeped through the dimensional barriers. I guess being unstuck, I was the only one who can pentrate the slidecage. The kromaggs knew this too; they studied me to find a way around the slidecage."
"The kromaggs?" asked Dad.
"The very ones who waged war against us on this world," I said. "They've conquered other worlds, including the one where you hid Quinn."
"They did?" asked Mom.
"Yes. Quinn's adoptive mother gave him the microdot and he learned about where he was from and about me. One of the reasons we tried to come here was to get the weapon you used to drive the kromaggs from this world."
"Oh," said Dad.
"Well, you say you can now slide anywhere, anytime, without a timer or a sliding generator?" asked Mom.
"Yes," I replied. "I want to spend time with you, to get to know you better. I do intend to go and look for Quinn and bring him here. He's still out there. I've got to find him."
"Don't leave too soon," said Dad. "There is much you should catch up on."
A few minutes later, the car was driving on a residential street.
"There's the house," said Mom.
I looked, and saw a two-story house, painted blue, with a porch and a white picket fence.
"We have a spare bedroom," said Dad. "I guess it's your bedroom now."
The garage door opened, and Mom parked the car inside the garage. There was nothing unordinary about it; there was a washing machine and a dryer and a shelf filled with boxes of detergent and another shelf in a corner with canisters of fluids used in automobiles.
I got out of the car; my parents opened a door. I went in, and entered the living room.
The room was huge, with a red carpet covering the floor. There were sofas, a coffee table, a huge Toshiba color television with a cable box, and an Aiwa stereo system. There were photographs on the fireplace mantle, the fireplace being in the back of the living room, bear the door to the backyard. The dining room and kitchen wereto the left, and to the right was a small hallway.
"The guest room is there as well as the first floor bathroom," said Dad. "Upstairs there is a study where we have a computer with Internet access."
"Michael, I think I'll make the call and tell the good news," said Mom.
"She'll be surprised."
I took a closer look at the pictures on the fireplace. I saw a wedding picture of Mom and Dad, with Mom in a white wedding dress and Dad in a black tuxedo. I saw three baby pictures.
Two of them were of me and Quinn. But there was a third one.
Then I looked at another picture, a picture of a teenage girl in a cap and gown, which was probaly taken for her high school graduation.
"Who is this?" I asked, though I suspected the answer.
"That is Katie," said Dad. "Katherine Amanda Mallory. Your younger sister."
"I have a sister," I slowly whispered. This did not surprise me. After two years of sliding, few things surprise me. "Where is she?"
"After graduating high school, she decided to attend Stanford University back west in California. She intends to go to law school after graduating college."
I looked at the photograph of my sister. I then realized I did see her before. On a few occasions when I visited Quinn's duplicates, I saw a photograph of a dark-haired girl. I never asked Quinn about her, since I did not want to be involved in the personal matters of Quinn's duplicates, especially if my duplicate was his brother. God knows how much trouble I got into on account of my duplicates.
Then I remembered something else. Katie here was the young lady I was looking right at when I arrived in this world.
She will definitely be surprised when she meets me.
"You told him about Katie," said Mom as she came down the stairs.
"Yeah," replied Dad.
"I just spoke to her about Colin."
"Did she believe you?" I asked. "I mean, you must have told her I was dead."
"Well, I was on the phone with her for half an hour. She told she she's willing to fly over here for the weekend."
"That's great," I said. "I'm looking forward to meeting her."
"Well, I guess I should buy plane tickets for her."
"Do you have a family album?" I asked.
"Yes," replied Mom. "It should be in the bookshelf in the guest bedroom."
"Well, I'd like to go look through the family album. Anyway, are you going to celebrate dinner in a restaraunt?"
"Actually, we'll just order pizza for tonight. Your dad and I want Katie to be here to celebrate your homecoming. I'm thinking of going to a seafood restaurant tomorrow; getting back our son certainly warrants the occasion."
"I'll be looking at the family album. You can come along if you want."
"I've some matters to attend to."
I went inside the first floor hallway; there were only two doors, one of which led to the first floor bathroom. I opened the other door and entered. I was in a small bedroom, with a small bed fit for only one person. There was a bookshelf filled with books. I searched until I found an old photo album. Judging from its condition, it had to be at least thirty years old.
The first page was a photo of a newborn baby, which was me. There were pictures of me with Mom and Dad, who looked just as they did when I had that microdot on my forehead. There were pictures of me in a walker and in a high chair. There were pictures of another newborn infant, which I figured was Quinn. There were more pictures of Quinn together with Mom and Dad, and there was a picture of me and Quinn, taken about twenty-six years ago.
Then I turned the page, and there were no more pictures of me or Quinn. There was a picture of another newborn infant, which I knew was Katie. The rest of the album had pictures of Katie, taken at various stages of growing up. There were pictures of her posing in the house, and in the backyard, and some of them holding a basketball.
I closed the album. The cover was titled "The Mallory Family".
I looked past this universe. I wondered where Quinn was. I hoped Marc LeBeau would tell him that I am home. I have the power to bring Quinn home; all I had to do was find him.
I decided to peruse some of the books on the bookshelf. I reached for a book on parallel universes. I read about how the results of the double-slit experiment involving photons proved the existence of parallel universes, and how travel to parallel universes was achieved with the invention of the sliding generator in 1942. I also read about how the slidecage was created after the last war between the humans and kromaggs.
I rubbed my chin, and I noiticed it felt fuzzy. I then remembered that I had not shaved nor bathed since the previous world. Well, I guess there was no time like the present.
I went to the bathroom upstairs, because the downstairs bathroom did not have a tub. Below the sink there was a packet of Bic razors. I used the Gillette foamy shaving cream to lather my face, and then used the Bic razor to shave. After rinsing my face, I felt smooth.
I then stepped into the shower and turned on the water. I relaxed as the warm water splashed against my body. It was like it was washing away two years of hardship. I was home; I was going to begin a brand new chapter in life. I knew I would have to find my place in this world; that was not my focus, only the water and the Ivory soap was my concern.
After being in there for a good twenty minutes, I turned off the shower. I dried myself with a towel, and got dressed and left the bathroom.
I looked through the bedrooms. I noted the master bedroom where Mom and Dad slept. I then saw another bedrooom. It contained a twin sized bed, as well as a dresser and a bookshelf with books and stuffed animals. In the corner was a Magnavox television with a Sony video cassette recorder and a Toshiba HVC player connected.
The photographs on the dresser indicated that this was Katie's room.
For dinner that night, we had pizza delivered to us from Pizza Hut. The pizza was very saucy and the cheese was very molten. I washed it down with Coke.
"So," I asked. "Is Katie coming here?"
"Yeah," replied Dad. "She'll be here tomorrow. We're gonna pick her up at the airport."
"Would you like to come?" asked Mom.
"No," I replied. "I'd like to greet her here."
"We've reserved a seafood lunch," said Mom. "It's going to be a special occasion."
"I have an old suit which should fit you," said Dad.
"Wow, we must be going to a really expensive place," I said.
"It's seafood," said Dad. "Of course it's expensive."
"Colin wouldn't know that," said Mom. "He's only been in this world for a day or two."
"I like seafood," I said. "I once had a job catching fish for this fishing operation operating off Redondo Beach. That's in California."
"So you were a fisherman," said Dad.
"I had a lot of jobs, even before I met Quinn and started sliding. Tell me about your work."
"Your mom and I both work for the Department of Defense at the Cheyenne Mountain facility. I am the chief technician for Slidecage Control; your mom works in the NBC Warfare Research Lab. That was where the Voraton was invented. Your mother worked on the project. She saved a lot of lives."
"It was something that had to be done," said Mom. "We weren't going to surrender to the Kromagg Alliance, and more people on both sides would have died if the war was fought the way it was fought."
"What was your experience with sliding?" I asked.
"Your mom and I worked for a sliding research facility on Yerba Buena Island near San Francisco," said Dad. "I was into the main quantum research; your mom did the biological research. We married in 1969. After the war started, we were both recruited by the government to work in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. We both decided to move to Colorado; we'd be working in a secure facility and the pay was outstanding. After the war was over, we chose to keep our jobs and stay in Colorado."
"So this is where Katie grew up," I said.
"Yes," said Mom.
"I was wondering, what was it like sending me and Quinn to live with your duplicates?" I asked.
"It was the most difficult decision we made," said Dad. "The Kromagg Alliance forces had invaded the U.S. There was a long and bitter struggle. The U.S. forces kept losing more and more ground. The kromaggs overran the Great Plains. We wanted you both tio grow up in a safer world."
"Choosing the right world was difficult," said Mom. "We wanted our duplicates to raise our sons. The only suitable worlds would be worlds where we had living duplicateswho were married but did not have any living son who was your duplicate. It took two months to identify suitable worlds for you and your brother. So we took you to that world you grew up in and spoke to our duplicates. They had no living children-their son Colin died at birth. They agreed to take care of him. We left a microdot in a locket, and told them if we did not come back, to give it to him when he grows up so he will know his true heritage."
"Did you come back for me?" I asked.
"When we returned, we learned that you and our duplicates were dead," said Dad. "We found out there was a flu epidemic months earlier that killed a quarter of the population of San Francisco. We were devastated. Then we looked for Quinn and we couldn't find him. Then the war was over. We lost our sons becuase of this. Katie was born two years later, and raising her comforted us."
"Does she know the whole story?" I asked.
"Yes," said Mom. "We told her about her brothers when she was thirteen."
We continued to chat for a while, and then it was time to go to bed. I looked forward to seeing Katie tomorrow.
The next morning, I woke up and then had Froot Loops and toast and Minute Maid orange juice for breakfast.
"We're going to pick up Katie at the airport," said Mom. "You sure you do not want to come?"
"I think I'll greet her at home," I said.
My parents then went to the garage, where they presumably got into one of the cars and drove off.
I looked at myself. I wanted to get dressed. After all, I was about to formally meet my sister for the first time. I put on a button-down shirt and some khakis.
I browsed the newspaper and turned on the television. I decided to learn much about events of this world twenty-five years after the end of the war.
About forty minutes later, I heard the garage open. I looked at the door between the living room and the garage. The door opened seconds later. Standing in the doorway was a young dark-haired woman, the same person I saw when I arrived in this world.From the look on her face, I could tell she was surprised to see me.
"Hello, my name is Colin," I said.
"My name is Katie," she replied. "I guess I'm your sister."
I then hugged her tightly as I did with my parents.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
"Well, this was a complete surprise. Mom called me and told me you came home. I mean, for most of my life I thought you and my other brother died in parallel universes. But you're alive."
"I did not die in that flu epidemic like my adoptive parents," I said. "My relaltives took care of me. And Quinn's alive too. He was the one who told me of where I came from, and I joined with him."
"Is Quinn here?"
"No, I got separated from him almost a year ago. I made it here, Katie. And I am sure I will find him and bring him and reunite this family."
"Well," said Dad, "we'd better get dressed for lunch. We're having seafood now."
"Dad, I don't have anything fancy to wear," said Katie.
"That dress you wore during your high school graduation is still in your closet, dear," said Mom. "It should still fit you."
So we got dressed.
Dad gave me a black coat, black pants, a white shirt, a red necktie, black dress shoes, and black dress socks. I went down to my bedroom and got dressed. It took a few minutes to put everything on. I then went to the living room to look at ymself in the mirror hanging on the wall near the front door, since there was no mirror in my room.
I went up to the second floor. I saw Mom come out of Katie's room.
"Colin," she said, "you're dressed."
"Is Katie finished dressing?" I asked.
"Yes. She's putting on makeup."
I entered Katie's room and Katie was inside, looking at the mirror and powdering her face. I closed the door and then stood right behind her.
"I guess the recent events are a complete surprise, what with me popping in right in front of you," I said.
"Yeah," she said, looking at me through the mirror. "i didn't know where you came from. We were about to call the police."
"Now that I think of it, it wasn't a coincidence that I appeared in front of you. I mean, I came here to reunite with my blood and you are blood like Mom and Dad."
"You arrived in San Francisco. How did you get here to Colorado Springs?"
"I hitchhiked."
"Hitchhiked?"
"Well, I didn't have local currency; it was the only way to get here."
Katie got up and we both left the room and went downstairs.
"Are you ready?" asked Dad, dressed in a three-piece suit.
"Yeah," I said. "Let's have lunch."
So we all went into the garage. Katie and I sat in the back seat of the Toyota Samurai. The garage opened and the car pulled out of the driveway.
After driving for a few minutes through the streets of Colorado Springs, we reached Captain Kirk's Seafood Palace, which was located on Nevada Avenue. Dad parked the Samurai in the parking lot and we all got out.
We reached the door of the restaurant and went inside. We were in the front waiting area where there were couches. The maitre'd stood behind a podium.
"Hello," he said. "Reservation?"
"Mallory, party of four," said Dad.
"Right this way, Mr. Mallory."
We were led to a circular table with five seats surrounding them; we sat on four of the seats. the one thing I noticed was the opulence of the place. All of the tables, like the one we are sitting in, were covered in white tablecloths. The carpet had this design where the logo of a ship's steering wheel was repeated. There was an aquarium with fish swimming in it. The chairs we sat in had intricate patterns carved into it, with the steering wheel logo carved in the back. I looked around and saw a bunch of other people sitting down having lunch; they were all dressed in suits.
A waitress clad in a red vest and white shirt approached with some menus.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked.
"I'd like some beer," I said. "Budweiser."
The others ordered their drinks, and then I looked at the menu.
It looked like a typical menu in a seafood restaurant, with appetizers and entrees. The things that stood out were the prices.
They were all quite expensive!
The Ultimate Feast, for example, was seventy-five dollars! the Admiral's Feast was seventy dollars. The crab-stuffed sole was fifty-six dollars. A Maine lobster tail was forty-seven dollars, and the Rock lobster tail was sixty-eight dollars. Fish and chips was forty dollars.
I noted that there were a few non-seafood items on the entree list; they were between twenty and thirty dollars.
Minutes later, the waitress came back for our order.
"I'll have the Ultimate Feast," I told her.
And so we were served the food. The appetizer we ordered was the spinach artichoke dip, which was a mixture of spinach, artichokes, and cream cheese. We had tortilla chips for dipping. We all dipped into the mixture and ate it. Then the entrees were served. I looked at my entree, served on a ceramic plate. It had a Maine lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp, scallops, and french fried potatoes. There was ketchup for the fries, a cocktail sauce for the shrimp, and hot drawn butter for the crab and lobster. I then proceeded to eat.
"So Colin," said Katie, "tell me about your journey."
and so I did. I told her about how I first met Quinn and Rembrandt and Maggie, about how we were trying to find our home world, about how I became unstuck, and how I managed to find my way home.
"They ought to make that into a movie," said Katie. "what was your life like before you met Quinn?"
"Well, my adoptive parents died when I was young, and I was raised by my grandparents and uncles and aunts who lived in San Jose. After graduating high school, I moved south to El Segundo. I worked odd jobs such as farm hand or fisherman. I had an interest in science, so I experimented with electricity and gliders and stuff. I was hoping to patent an invention or two, maybe someone would give me a scholarship so I could attend some prestigious university and become a research professor. I actually patented a few inventions, but I never got a scholarship. That was what my life was like until I met Quinn over two years ago."
"What was your world like?"
"Well, electricity and cars and air travel and computers were not available to the public," I answered. "The primary mode of transportation was horse and wagon, and the primary mode of long-distance communication was mail-not e-mail, but just mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Indoor plumbing was only available in the big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. I was living in El Segundo, which was primitive even for my time."
"What was Quinn like?"
"He was a smart, athletic person with a kind heart, always willing to help out. He was the one who built a sliding generator in his mom's basement. He took three other people on an interdimensional journey. They got lost and he tried to find his way home. Three years ago, two of his fellow sliders- Wade Welles and Rembrandt Brown-made it home, and he and Maggie Beckett were left behind. They managed to follow Wade and Rembrandt, and when they got there, the kromaggs had already taken over."
"How did Quinn know that was the world he grew up in?"
"Rembrandt told him. Rembrandt was there for three months, and he spent the first two weeks researching his world. Everything matched upo to what he knew about home, including his three-year absence."
"So there was a war between kromaggs and humans on that world too."
"Yes. Quinn learned that he had a brother, and that the kromaggs lost on the world where he was born. So he decided to begin the journey again. We later leanred that a weapon was used to drive the kromaggs from our birth world."
"What was his world like, before the kromaggs took over?"
"Well, people there had access to cars and trains and airplanes and computers. It's a lot like our world, in fact. Quinn could tell you more, as he lived there."
I looked at the empty chair at our table. It reminded me that our family was incomplete; Quinn had not returned.
"Did you ever encounter another version of me?" asked Katie.
"No, I haven't," I said. "I never knew you existed before, so I had no reason to find out about any sister I might have. Whenever there was enough time to look, we looked for Quinn, and if Quinn was unable to help us, we left him alone. We try to avoid being involved in the lives of our duplicates."
"But there could be another me pout there; maybe one who grew up with her versions of Colin and Quinn."
"Well, I've observed my duplicate's lives before," I said. "and I did learn from them. I do know that my life is my own, and I will have to choose based upon the way my life is."
I looked around and I noticed a bunch of people in suits sitting at an adjacent table; they seemed to be observing us.
"Tell us more about your travels," said Katie.
I looked at my food, which was nearly finished. "If I told you about everything for the past two years, we'd be here until closing time," I said. "But I will tell you my first experience in sliding since my reunion with Quinn. When I jumped into the wormhole, I flew through this tunnel of light. When I arrived, there was this vehicle approaching me. Quinn managed to get me out of the way. It was the first time I saw a truck. Anyway, I got caught up in this plot to steal bone grafts from corpses, since bone grafts are used as identification on that world I was in. Everything turned out okay, and Quinn and I slid to the next world."
"Wow," said Katie. "you have a lot of interesting stories to tell. My life is boring in comparison."
the waitress came back to our table. "Excuse me, are you done?" she asked us.
"We're done," said Dad.
Soon, the waitress brought back the check. I looked at it, and the whole thing cost three hundred twenty-five dollars. Dad paid for it with a credit card.
We left Captain Kirk's and then headed home. We were all full from the huge lunch we had, and we would probably not eat much for dinner. Katie went into the kitchen and then took out a cell phone.
"I'd like to know more about you," I said. "Back at the restaurant, all we were talking about was me."
Katie put away the cell phone. "Well, okay," she said. "My life is probably not as exciting as your life was."
"Well, I did slide through dozens of different worlds for two years. But let's talk about you."
"I'll start off. I was born on September 11, 1977-that was the day the slidecage went online. Mom was giving birth to me in the hospital while Dad was in Cheyenne Mountain overseeing the activation of the slidecage. He got word of me being born after the slidecage was activated. I had a typical childhood. I grew, I went to school and leanred about math and science and history. I was into basketball, and I was on the basketball team in middle school. My parents told me about their involvement in the war with the kromaggs when I was thirteen. They also told me about you and Quinn, and how they hid you both away, and then lost you. I went to high school here in Colorado Springs and I was in the girls' basketball team. I spent much of my teenage years studying and practicing for basketball. I even played in the state championships. I also learned how to ski-something that a girl growing up next door to the Rockies would learn. I graduated in June of 1995 and I got scholarships to play basketball in several universities. I chose Stanford because it was near where my parents met and got married."
"What was life like in Stanford?" I asked.
"Well, it was a new experience," said Katie. "For one thing, there was not snow on the ground during the winter. I lived in the dorms for the first year. I made a couple of friends there as well as on the basketball team. My major there was criminal justice; I wanted to pursue a career in law in case I did not succeed in professional basketball. During my free time, I visited landmarks in San Francisco, which was about a forty minute ride from Stanford on the BART train. I had a job as a waitress at a Black Angus restaurant, and I am scheduled to start a summer internship in San Francisco. I expect to graduate next year."
"Is there anything else?" I asked.
Katie opened the door of the Kenmore refirgerator, as if to get something, and then she closed it without taking anything out. "I'm getting married."
"Married?" I asked. I looked at her left hand, and noticed a ring on her left ring finger with a diamond in it. "Who is your fiance? Where did you find him?"
"His name's Lee Tan. I met him my first year of Stanford. He actually lived in the same dorm building as I did."
Then I remmebered that when I first saw Katie the moment I arrived, I saw her sitting on a man's lap. That must have been Lee Tan. "Was it love at first sight?" I asked.
"No, it was not. We got along together well, but we did not start seeing each other until the spring of 1997. He proposed to me last year, and we're going to get married this year. It is so amazing. First I identify the man whom I'll spend the rest of my life with, and then I reunite with my long-lost brother. I'm glad you'll be there for my wedding."
"Listen, Katie," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and staring into her brown eyes. "I'm going to find Quinn. I will make sure Quinn is there to see you get married."
"You can do that?"
"I will do that."
"Thanks, Colin."
"I'm your big brother."
"Well, I'm gonna call Lee." She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Lee? This is Katie.....I just had lunch with my brother. He's alive........He was the guy who just appeared in front of us in Dirk's basement........Well, of course he'll be at our wedding.......My other brother's still alive, and Colin is going to bring him home so he can be at our wedding as well........I'll be heading back Sunday. You'll pick me up at the airport, right?.....See you tomorrow."
"How's your fiance doing?" I asked.
"Fine," replied Katie. "We were planning to go on a date today, but after a few minutes he agreed to postpone it until Thursday night, after our last final exams. Which reminds me that I've got to study for these finals. I'm glad I brought my books." She then left the kitchen. I decided to go to the living room. Dad was sitting on the couch, watching television. I decided to sit down and join him.
We sat in the Toyota Samurai approaching the Colorado Springs airport. I had spent today and yesterday getting to know Katie and my parents, and I even assisted my sister with her studies. But she was scheduled to fly back to California Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to say goodbye to her.
The car parked next to the American Airlines terminal. Katie's flight was in thirty minutes.
"Goodbye, Colin," said Katie as she hugged me.
"Goodbye, Katie," i said before kissing her on the cheek.
"I guess I'll see you all Friday when I fly back here."
"Bye," said Mom.
"Katie," I said, "I'm going to bring Quinn back. That I promise."
We saw Katie enter the terminal, and then we got back into the car. As we headed home, I thought of my promise to my parents and sister to bring Quinn home.
Marc LeBeau contacted me in my dreams again.
"Well, I'm home," I said. "Now I need to bring Quinn back here."
"It is not yet time," said LeBeau. "But the time for your reunion approaches quickly."
"I can self-slide. I could just find Quinn and then come to him."
"That is not possible now. Colin, I must inform you of an impending danger. You see...."
And then he disappeared.
I woke up the next day, and I had breakfast as usual. Mom and Dad came downstairs.
"Are you leaving now?" asked Dad. "Are you going to look for Quinn?"
"As soon as I can find him," I replied. "I'm not ready yet."
"In the meantime, we need to make a place for you in this world," said Mom. "You don't have a driver's license or employment history or a bank account or anything. your father and I were thinking of pulling strings to get you a job so you could have some measure of independence."
"How did you find the right world?" asked Dad.
"Well, what I did was I went into some meditative trance and then reached out to find out where you were. I knew there was a slidecage, so I tried to feel the slidecage. And then I appeared in your world."
"you didn't appear in front of us," said Mom.
"Well, I still need to fine tune my self-sliding. But I intend to get dressed, and I will go find Quinn."
Then I heard the doorbell ring. Dad answered the front door, and I saw two Air Force men. One of them was the Air Force security officer who questioned me when I went to Cheyenne Mountain on Friday.
"Colin Mallory," said Captain Shays.
"Hi," I said. "Is there anything I could help you with?"
"Mr. Mallory, your story went up the chain of command, and the Pentagon is interested. They sent an officer to ask you some more questions. She'll be going to Cheyenne Mountain. We'd like you to come with us."
"Captain Shays," said Mom, "will it be okay if we brought Colin to Cheyenne? We're heading there anyway."
"I don't see a problem, Dr. Mallory," replied the Air Force captain. "We'll be right behind you."
And so i got dressed and got into the Toyota Samurai with Mom and Dad and we headed to Cheyenne Mountain.
