The walk to the California Institute of Technology was a short one, taking the sliders only half an hour to reach the entrance to the grand university. Quinn reached for the front door, completely taken by surprise as it swung open from the inside, nearly slamming into him and causing him to fall back. The professor quickly reached out and caught him, helping him stay on his feet.
An older man with short blond hair exited the building, his light blue eyes burning with rage as he glared at the sliders. He wore a black suit, complete with a red tie and a handgun on his hip. Pointing at the quartet he yelled, his voice laced with anger.
"There is no more room here! Go home, we will not take any more stragglers!"
Arturo was the first to break out of his surprised stupor, raising his hands and talking a single step forward, shielding the group from the mystery man.
"My good sir, I assure you my friends and I are not here to cause any trouble. We came here to use the available facilities. Are you campus security?"
The man scoffed, his face shifting into a smug look. Reaching into his breast pocket he pulled out an ID and a badge, flipping it open and practically shoving it into the slider's faces.
"I am FBI special agent Angus Rickman. I have the authority, granted to me by the US government, to restrict public access to this campus or any other establishment I wish. So scram, I can care less why you're here!" The man all but yelled. Bristled, Arturo took another step forward, pointing back at the man.
"Now you listen here, as far as I can tell the government, as well as every other living thing on this planet, will be no more in as little as 28 and a half hours. Why should we care what you think of our using these facilities? That badge is nothing but plastic now"
Rickman's already furious eyes grew murderous. Slowly he rested his hand against his sidearm, eyeing the four of them with pure hatred. As he spoke his voice came out low, seeped with venom.
"I will tell you one more time, leave the premises-"
"What are you doing?!"
The new feminine voice caught everyone's attention, their heads snapping to the female figure exiting the same doors Rickman recently stepped through. She had shoulder length blond hair and brown eyes, wearing a white lab coat recognizable as one worn by doctors or scientists. She quickly approached the group, stepping beside the agent and gesturing out toward the sliders.
Rickman sighed, turning to face her with an irritated frown.
"Look Dr. Jensen I know you'd prefer we take in anyone who approaches, but who else should we offer these false hopes?" Rickman bit out, gesturing toward the Caltech building "at the very least let these people return home and die in their own beds. Give them that small condolence. It's more than I can say for the 200 people sitting inside the building right now."
"Agent Rickman, don't you recognize them?" The woman replied, pointing at each slider as she listed off their names, "you read the files too. Its Quinn Mallory, Maximillian Arturo, Wade Welles, and Rembrandt Brown''
"Woah, I understand recognizing the Cryin man but how do you know these three?" Rembrandt asked, gesturing to the others with his thumb. Wade smacked his arm as he asked that, causing him to jump.
Rickman turned his attention back to them, eyeing them closely and slowly nodding, his eyes widening in surprise as he turned his attention back to the woman.
"You're right, I'm not sure how I didn't realize it sooner. Stress from the upcoming cataclysm perhaps. But if they are here now that means they can be incredibly useful to your research. I will arrest them, ensure they cooperate-"
"No," Dr. Jensen replied, placing her hand on his arm and preventing him from turning back to the sliders, "you're not in charge anymore, agent Rickman. The government abandoned us for their precious fallout bunkers as if they will be of any protection from a bloody pulsar. I am tired of your strong arm tactics and your insufferable need to try and be in control of this entire operation. We will ask them, nicely, if they want to help us"
Rickman narrowed his eyes at the woman, that familiar look of rage returning to his features.
"Are you that much of a fool?" He hissed, "these people are our only hope. You and your husband have proven to be useless in creating a wormhole for our escape. We need these people. There are 200 lives on the line, not counting our own. I am responsible for them. What if they say no?"
"We won't," Quinn cut in, looking between the two arguing strangers. He turned his attention to Dr. Jensen as he spoke again. "You're trying to open the Einstein Rosen Podolsky bridge?"
"We are," Dr. Jensen replied, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she turned to face him, "after you and your friends disappeared over two years ago your mother called the police. An investigation brought your sliding technology to the attention of the US government. Initially, they attempted to learn enough about it to bring you home, but the funding was cut early on due to a lot of suits refusing to believe such an outlandish possibility, even with video evidence"
"Many government officials believed your videos were doctored, and that you and your friends vanished due to other unknown circumstances" Rickman added, causing the sliders to frown.
"Yes, however when the pulsar was first spotted the government became desperate. They brought us your sliding equipment and asked us to perfect a sliding machine in order to escape this world before its demise. They gave us little time or resources to create something and soon abandoned us for their bunkers. To be honest with you I don't even know why they bothered if they gave up on us that quickly" Dr. Jensen explained, crossing her arms and sighing heavily.
"So wait, the government gave you my doubles sliding equipment? It's here, at Caltech?" Quinn questioned, a bright and hopeful smile coming to his face "with that I'll have a much better chance at resetting the timers"
"Your doubles equipment? Are you telling me you're not the Quinn Mallory who slid off this Earth over two years ago?" Dr. Jensen inquired, studying him closely. Quinn and his friends stiffened at that, unsure if he said something he perhaps shouldn't have. He contemplated backtracking but ultimately decided to be honest with her. Unlike Rickman, Dr. Jensen seemed reasonable.
"God I hope not. I'd hate to finally find home only to learn it and most of its population are destined to die" Quinn replied.
"I see, so each world has parallel doubles. You are a Quinn Mallory from an alternate Earth" Dr. Jensen mumbled to herself, "Well, it hardly matters so long as you also created sliding. Did you invent Sliding on your world?"
"Yes, he did," Arturo replied with a smile before Quinn could open his mouth, placing his hands on Quinn's shoulders. A gesture Quinn took to mean he was proud of him.
"Good, then you are our best chance at creating a functional timer. What about you, Mr. Arturo, are you a waste collector on your world too?"
Arturo's proud smile instantly dropped to a frown.
"A what?" He replied breathlessly, looking lost for a moment as he turned to face his smiling friends.
"Well that settles it, this isn't our Earth," Rembrandt said with a chuckle, patting the professor on the arm.
"Come on professor it isn't that bad. At least your double isn't a rapper or something" Wade offered with a grin. Arturo's frown grew.
"A rapper? Miss Welles that idea in and of itself is absolutely preposterous!" Arturo growled, waving his hands before he turned to face Dr. Jensen. As he did he offered her a patient smile. "No madam, I am not in waste disposal. I am a professor of Cosmology and Ontology at the University of California"
Dr. Jensen brightened at this revelation, her smile growing.
"Today just keeps getting better. First the creator of sliding and now a full fledged professor. It will be nice to work with other minds again. All the other scientists left us for the bunkers. Only my husband and I remained"
"How much progress have you made?" Quinn asked, Rickman scoffing at the question. Dr. Jensen rolled her eyes at his response.
'Why don't you all come inside? I'll introduce you to Steven and let you see our notes. My name is Maggie, by the way"
"A pleasure, madam," Arturo replied, gesturing toward the building as he did. "Lead the way"
Meeting Steven Jensen had gone exceptionally well, especially compared to their initial meeting with agent Rickman. The young man was clearly excited to meet the creator of sliding technology. He wore a lab coat, much like his wife, his brown eyes sparkling with amazement as Quinn showed him both of his timers as well as the inner components.
With introductions out of the way, Quinn and Arturo were given all of the information Maggie and Steven put together involving their attempts at creating a stable gateway. Quinn was surprised to learn that while they couldn't make a stable tunnel themselves, they did manage to create upgrades his timers did not possess. Regardless of the shortcomings, Quinn was very impressed. Had the couple not been forced to work under such stressful and limited times he had no doubt they would have unlocked the secrets to sliding eventually.
"You've got the ability to track wormholes and store the coordinates of every world you slide to" Quinn muttered in awe. He slammed the file shut, turning his attention to the young Dr. Steven Jensen, who stared back with rapid attention. "That's something I wish I had when we first started sliding. There's a few world's I'd like to go back to"
"Oh yeah? What worlds would those be?" Jensen asked. Quinn smiled slightly as he saw the look of interest on the young scientist's face.
"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing my friend Gillian again," Quinn admitted, "or going back to worlds where we made a difference, to see how they are fairing. Though if I could go back to any world we visited I'd especially like to return to 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 we've 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. Sure, he threw a basketball in along with a few other small items in the basement, but was that really a worthwhile safety test? He was interrupted from his thoughts as Maggie spoke from the doorway, entering the room.
"Hopefully not for much longer, now that you're here," She said with a smile, having returned from bringing Wade and Rembrandt to meet the other people waiting here, putting their lives on the line for this last chance at survival. Quinn nodded, placing both the Egyptian and original timers on a nearby desk.
"So, the first thing I need to do is add the missing parts to my Motorola timer and then reset both, from there I need to find a higher capacity microchip. One strong enough to slide out over 200 people without the wormhole collapsing" Quinn announced.
"This will be no easy task, but I have faith in you Mr. Mallory, and I will be here to assist you where needed" Arturo offered, closing his own file and setting it aside. Quinn smiled at the professor, thankful for his assistance. Steven took this opportunity to speak up once more, gesturing to the two timers.
"My wife and I will offer our assistance as well of course, and in return for your help, we will install our upgrades to both. Who knows, maybe they will help you find home someday"
"Thank you," Quinn replied, reaching to the Motorola timer in preparation to begin work, "the easiest place to look for supplies would be a Motorola factory. If I can find similar cellphones to the original model I converted then the parts and microchips could go a long way to resetting the timer"
"There isn't a factory near here, but I will go ask the survivors if any of them have Motorola Microtac cellphones they may be willing to offer us. It's not like they will be of much use on the next world anyway" Steven said, getting up from his seat and exiting the room. As he did Rickman passed him, eyeing Quinn before speaking up.
"Mallory, may I have a word?"
Quinn simply nodded, walking over to the special agent in curiosity to what this man wanted to talk about. As he approached Rickman frowned, sighing heavily before speaking up.
"Look I just wanted to apologize for my earlier aggression. You have to understand when the government first assigned me to this position I was in charge of saving these people. Their lives were my responsibility, and I still feel that way even with the government no longer involved. If they die the blood is on my hands"
Quinn nodded, giving Rickman a hopeful smile.
"Don't worry, agent Rickman. I'm sure with the professor and both Steven and Maggie Jensen helping me I will be able to reset the timers and find a strong enough microchip to save everyone. We're going to make it, all of us"
Rickman returned the smile, nodding to Quinn before turning and leaving the room, allowing the young man to get back to work. With his arms behind his back, Rickman stopped outside the door, glaring back at Quinn for a brief moment before turning away.