SLIDERS: SHADOWS
Copyright by Jules Reynolds (July 1996)
(Julia@wrenlea.demon.co.uk)
The following story is intended for entertainment purposes only. This
document can be freely distributed with the condition that no part of
the text is modified, and this notice is included with all copies.
This document cannot be sold or translated into any other form without
written permission from the author. Some characters and elements of
this story are the property of St Clare Entertainment, used without
authorization. No copyright infringement is intended. The author
receives no compensation from the distribution of this work. Any
comments or criticism would be welcome.
PART ONE
Shapes that materialize from nothing. Shadows are mere images in your mind, an elusive mirage which tease the senses and light the imagination until you believe your eyes no more. Shadows cannot exist, they are of no substance, they cannot harm you or tear you from the path upon which you tread.
If all this were true why did Wade feel so afraid, so alone, sliding along the vortex behind Quinn. He was right in front of her. But he wasn't somehow. She might as well be alone. She couldn't see him properly anyway.
To her mind it seemed that the slide was continuing into infinity. The long unending slide to the next world.
The shapes which had caught her eye fleetingly were dark somehow, foreboding echoes from somewhere. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on their journey. It was funny, she'd never had time before to think like this, to even contemplate her surroundings. Sliding was such a roller-coaster of a ride she hardly had time to catch her breath before being ejected, usually fairly unceremoniously into the next world. This time though...
The shape which reared up in front of her seemed to come from the tunnel wall itself and she pulled her head back instinctively. It was too blurred to make out properly but she thought she heard a sound as it passed before her eyes and blinked from existence.
She exited the tunnel with her hands covering her eyes, slamming to the sidewalk in the usual undignified manner which sliding necessitated.
"Ouch!" she yelled, as she rubbed her shoulder and realized there'd be a nice bruise there shortly.
"Geez, that was some ride!" declared Rembrandt, shaking his head unhappily.
"Yes, interesting wasn't it?" answered Arturo as he pulled himself up from the floor.
"Come on Miss Welles, nursing your bruises won't help them," he remarked playfully and held out his hand.
Wade took the offered hand and rose to her feet. She looked at the men with a puzzled expression.
"Did you guys notice anything different back there?" she asked, turning her eyes towards Quinn who was busy examining the timer and looking back at the vortex which was just blinking out of existence.
"Uh, yeah, kind of," he replied distantly. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes not registering Wade, but peering at the space which the vortex had occupied.
"Well?" Wade persisted firmly, moving to be by his side.
"Um...well what?" he turned his head and stared vacantly at her.
"Oh, come on Quinn, you just said you did notice something different. Tell me what you saw." She punched him playfully on the arm and studied his worried expression.
Quinn shrugged his arm away from her and peered at the timer. Wade glanced down at it. The figures were leaping across the display faster than she'd ever seen them. They were moving backwards, then forwards. In fact to Wade, it seemed as though they didn't know what to do. If a timer could be construed as confused then this timer sure was.
"*What* is wrong with that?" she offered, looking puzzled.
Rembrandt and Arturo joined her at Quinn's side and looked over his shoulder.
"My God, it seems to be randomly selecting a slide window. It's never done that before," Arturo remarked and reaching across Wade, removed the timer from Quinn's hand to look more closely. "How very peculiar!"
Quinn didn't seem to notice that he no longer had the timer, he continued staring at the empty space again.
Wade shook his arm furiously.
"Come on, snap out of it, will you?" she insisted, getting more irritated with his dreamy state.
"What? Oh, sorry Wade. What did you say about seeing things back there?" Quinn turned and gripped her hard on the shoulders and stared down intently into her eyes.
Wade saw a fear reflected in Quinn's face, in his eyes. She'd rarely seen that before. Perhaps something had unnerved him back in the vortex, perhaps the same things which had unnerved her.
"I just thought I saw........" she started to explain.
"...shadows, specters...you know that sort of thing?" he continued for her, his eyes burning into her own.
"Yeah, kind of," she agreed nodding her head, grateful in a way that he'd also seen them but terrified of the consequences.
He breathed out heavily and let go her shoulders. He turned his head away for a moment and she saw him take a deep breath.
"What about them? What do you know about them?" she pushed him further. She knew Quinn wouldn't just accept that there'd been other things in the slide with them. He'd want to know more. He ignored her questions.
"Did either of you see anything in there? Anything odd? Anything at all?" Quinn turned first to Rembrandt and then Arturo, who was seated on the edge of the sidewalk engrossed with the timer's display.
"Yeah, Q-ball. I saw shapes of some sort. Thought the old eyes were playin' tricks on me. That's all. Just playin' tricks." Rembrandt shrugged his shoulders. He'd seen shapes sure. Dark shapes. But they hadn't bothered him. He was convinced it was his own feverish imagination. He'd had a few beers before the slide, hadn't he? He could've had too many. Hell, could you be drunk in charge of sliding? Rembrandt wasn't sure. He didn't feel like he'd had too much to drink, admittedly. Two beers? Nah - he wasn't drunk. Anyway, now he was hearing Q-Ball and Wade telling it like they'd seen these shape things too.
Rembrandt shook his head and turned to Arturo.
The Professor looked up slowly, his face serious, and met Quinn's penetrating stare.
"Yes, my boy, I saw them," he answered simply and then turned back to the timer.
"What? What does this mean, Quinn?" Wade grabbed Quinn's arm and swung him round to face her, furious at his attempts to stonewall her questions.
"I don't know, Wade and that's the truth. I just don't know. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, just like Rembrandt did. If you hadn't mentioned seeing them I expect we all would have just thought we were imagining them," he replied gently.
"The slide was infinitely longer than normal, my boy," Arturo remarked quietly as he looked up and then pulled himself to his feet.
"Yes, I noticed," Quinn answered and took the timer from the Professor. The display hadn't settled. It still hadn't made its mind up as to when they were going to slide out.
"Look, we've got to sort the timer out. Something's interfering with it. I dunno what but I suggest we get out of this area and check into a hotel for the night." Quinn looked up at the encroaching darkness. "Night's falling fast. We'd better do it now guys."
"Seems pretty normal here, Q-Ball," Rembrandt commented as they strolled towards the Dominion Hotel.
Wade had her arm linked through Rembrandt's and was feeling a lot happier now she knew her mind hadn't been playing tricks on her. She felt as if she could cope with almost anything provided they were safely together.
"Don't be fooled, Mr. Brown. We've got ourselves into trouble with that presumption before, remember?" Arturo offered as he strolled behind them, his hands linked behind his back.
"Oh, sure Professor I remember all right," Rembrandt replied and grinned down at Wade who was smiling. They had tended to hope for the best in the worlds they visited and invariably came unstuck.
"Ah, the Dominion. How pleasant the sight of familiarity is," Arturo announced, beaming across his face as they pushed the doors open.
***
"Hey, we've had this room before!" shouted Wade as she raced to get to the bathroom first. She felt in dire need of a hot bath and it was first in who got the first draw of water.
"Aw, Wade. How d'ya always do that?" Rembrandt groaned and threw a cushion across the bedroom. It hit the door as Wade closed it to behind her. They could hear the squeals of laughter from behind it.
"Still pondering the slide, Mr. Mallory?" Arturo asked as he sat down on one of the beds beside the silent form of Quinn.
"Yeah. It doesn't make sense. I've never seen anything in the vortex before. Just us. I still can't put my finger on what it was I saw or you saw, or any of us saw. And the timer doing this." Quinn held the device out, its display seemed to be running out of control.
"Well, we can't slide with it doing that, now can we?" Arturo remarked gently. "I suggest we make sure that it is by the bed at all times. Consider that if it does decide to go off, the bleep will wake us up. We will then have time to throw ourselves through the vortex if necessary."
"Good idea," Quinn replied and forced a smile across his lips. But he didn't feel like smiling. He didn't feel like it at all.
***
Wade luxuriated in the bath water. It was pleasantly warm and the hotel, as always, provided nice bath oil. All thoughts of the strange slide in, were dismissed for the pure pleasure of the moment, as she closed her eyes and let her thoughts simmer gently.
She felt a draft, as though the door had opened and then shut. Without opening her eyes she pushed herself further under the suds, until her neck and head were the only visible parts of her.
"Aw, come on guys. Can't a girl have privacy?" she moaned, not bothering to open her eyes. They were getting back at her for taking the bath before them, the rotten lot. What trick would they play on her this time?
"Hey, how d'ya open the door? I locked it from the inside this time, in case you pulled some sort of stunt like this!" she called out and gingerly opened her eyes to see which one was going to get the rough edge of her tongue when she emerged from the bathroom.
The door was shut tight and she noticed the key still turned in the lock.
"Hey come on guys, this isn't funny. Quit kidding. I just want to........."
The words froze in her throat as she stared at what appeared before her.
The shape moved slowly and casually, in and then out again through the body of the locked door and moved to the end of the bath. It was difficult to make out. A misty vapor was all Wade could see. Dark and shifting. It was almost fluid in consistency and yet formed.
Wade rubbed her eyes hard and shook her head. The shape came closer. She could make out the shape now. It was a human form, darkened into shadow. As it reached near to her head to lift something from the side of the bath and yet not, she gasped. The noise came out as a strangulated groan as she saw what appeared to be a face.
***
The scream echoed around the hotel bedroom.
Quinn leapt to his feet and stared at Rembrandt who was also on his feet, and then he froze. He watched in mute fascination as a dark shadow moved swiftly through the locked bathroom door and proceeded to pass through the bedroom and beyond, out into the corridor.
Arturo looked at the two men.
"Did you see what I think I saw?" he asked slowly, his eyes wide.
"It looked like a ghost to me, Professor," Rembrandt answered and turned to Quinn who was reaching for the bathroom door, his face a whiter shade of pale.
"No it was something much more interesting than that," replied the somewhat subdued voice as he tried to open the door.
"Wade, open the door!"
Quinn's voice echoed through the locked door and reached the ears of the girl submerged beneath the water. She pushed her head up through the suds and peered nervously across the bathroom.
"Quinn? That you? Has..has it gone?" she squeaked apprehensively. She didn't want to look round her in case she saw it again.
"Yeah, it's gone Wade. Open up! Come on!" Quinn pushed on the door but he could feel that it was locked.
"All right, don't break it. I'll open it." He smiled to himself as he heard the tentative patter of wet feet across the bathroom floor and the key turn in the lock.
"*What* was that?" she asked as she peered nervously around the door, a large white towel wrapped around her body. Her hair was dripping water everywhere, her face looked small and smothered poking out from the top of the towel.
"I guess we thought you could tell us. You screamed!" Quinn answered, his eyes softening at her wide eyed look.
"I didn't scream! Didn't you hear it? *It* screamed, not me," Wade declared, looking unhappily at them, as she came into the room.
"My dear Miss Welles. Did you see any sort of face on the....um shadow?" Arturo asked gently as he rose to hand Wade her clothes. She was now shivering and trying to towel herself while retaining some degree of dignity.
"No. It was too blurred. The shape kinda looked familiar but I don't know why it would," she continued, then moved back into the bathroom with her clothes, talking while she dried behind the door.
Arturo and Rembrandt exchanged looks then looked at Quinn.
"What? What do you want me to say?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Tell us what you meant by "more interesting", dear boy. Perhaps that would be a start." Arturo encouraged.
Quinn shrugged and swallowed.
"Hey, you guys have gone quiet! Talk to me!" Wade's voice floated from the bathroom as she finished dressing.
As Quinn made his mind up to swallow his nerves. To face up to explain his theory to the others, the decision was taken from his hands.
The shadows flowed through the door as liquid flows from a jug into a glass. Effortlessly and cleanly. Rembrandt and Arturo backed against the wall to avoid the encroaching shapes as they moved swiftly towards the bathroom.
"Wade, get out of there, fast!"
There were four of them now. Quinn had called his warning to Wade just in time.
As she came to see why she had to move, she saw the four shapes advance towards her and then hesitate. They were more defined now. More recognizable. There didn't seem to be any malevolence in them. Wade felt her fear melt away and curiosity took its place.
She moved to Quinn's side and watched the shapes turn to look at the four Sliders in turn. They too seemed mesmerized. They too were unsure of what to do.
"Quinn, they're frightened of us!" Wade hissed under her breath, afraid almost that they would catch her words. She was fascinated. They were still blurred but their substance was recognizable now. They were definitely human in shape.
She heard Rembrandt let out a low whistle.
"My God. I'm getting a bad feeling about this, my boy," Arturo muttered under his breath and reached to look at the timer. The display was still unsettled, still pondering its final resting place. The blue digits flashed as before.
"Yeah. I'm not feeling so good about it myself, Professor," Quinn admitted unhappily.
"Why? They're not going to hurt us, are they? I mean, they're like us. They're ghosts or something. Ghosts can't hurt us," Wade mumbled, her eyes fixed on the shapes in front of her.
"So speaks the person who just hid in her bathwater when she saw one," mocked Quinn gently.
"How d'ya know that?" she turned and looked at him, annoyed.
"You came out with soap suds in your hair!" laughed Quinn. The atmosphere was lightened slightly.
"I have a theory about this, but I'm not sure if I'm right," stated Arturo as he sank back onto the bed to think.
The shapes were still now, contemplating the four Sliders each in turn. They appeared to be as unnerved as they were. Then one of the shapes moved into the bathroom leaving the others. The door seemed to fragment before their eyes. Their bathroom door seemed to be shut and yet they could see a shadowy shape of a door opening, and echo almost of their own very solid door. As soon as it returned into the hotel room they moved as one through the closed bedroom door and into the corridor beyond.
"Where'd they go?" Wade asked as she watched them disappear.
"They're as disturbed about all this as we are, Miss Welles," Arturo offered and patted the bed beside him. Wade sat down heavily next to him. Rembrandt followed.
Only Quinn remained standing, staring at the closed door. His eyes narrowed and he moved towards the bathroom and in through the door. Within seconds he had emerged and joined the others. His face paler somehow, his eyes betraying nothing.
The rest of the group didn't seem to notice his face, they were busy concentrating on Arturo, waiting for his explanation.
"Do you know something we don't, Professor?" Rembrandt asked, putting an arm around Wade's shoulders. "You okay sweetheart?"
Wade nodded and smiled.
"My thoughts are purely hypothesis at this junction but if I'm right then I'm afraid we've got problems," Arturo sighed.
"I think I'm only a step behind you on this Professor," Quinn volunteered and pulled a face. "I don't like it either."
"Will you two stop talking like we're not here and explain!" Wade shouted at the two men.
"Sorry, Wade!" Quinn looked sheepish then sat down on the bed opposite them.
"Over to you, Professor."
"We all felt and saw the shapes which accompanied us on the slide into this world. We've all seen the way the timer's disrupted. At first I had a theory about the shadows. But I fear that I am wrong." Arturo hesitated and then rose to his feet. He felt better when he strode, especially when imparting news of a more sinister connotation.
Quinn put his hands to his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair, as though the action would somehow banish the thoughts which now ran through his mind.
"Can we cut to the main course, Professor," Rembrandt urged, looking pained at having to wait.
"Very well, but understand that this is all conjecture on my part. We have no proof of anything...yet."
"How do you mean, yet?" Wade was curious.
"I'll come to that Miss Welles, I'll come to that," Arturo replied, hedging until he was forced to discuss their options.
Wade pulled a face. She hated being given the run around.
"There are several threads to this mystery which, when joined together, have given me, I believe, a logical answer. The slide into this world was disrupted, of that I am sure. We spent longer in transit than I ever remember happening before. The shapes which accompanied us through the slide were part of that disruption. Their presence here in the hotel is proof. The duplication of that bathroom door, an echo of another door somewhere else. And the timer, we can see that it is totally disrupted. Not broken you understand - just disturbed." Arturo paused to see if his audience was fully understanding his words.
Wade and Rembrandt looked at one another and then at Quinn.
"Forgive me Professor, but how does this explain what those shapes were. I mean we know they looked like they were kind of ghosts, but you know what they really were, don't you?" Rembrandt locked eyes with Arturo and waited.
"I believe I do, Mr. Brown. I believe I do." Arturo replied and looked to Quinn for support.
The young student nodded slowly, his eyes reflecting agreement.
"Professor!" Wade was getting impatient. She hated it when Arturo pontificated for so long her nerves started to jangle.
"Your patience is about to be rewarded, Miss Welles. Or not, depending on how you view what I'm about to tell you," he added and smiled grimly.
"All right, all right. I believe that we have somehow intercepted a slide by another group of ourselves and somehow the two worlds are now inextricably linked. We are seeing the sliders as shadows and I have no doubt that they are also seeing us as shadows. Hence the scream from the shadow when it saw you Miss Welles. Well your shadow self at least. They seem to be in shock over seeing us as well. We've even seen an echo of parts of their hotel room with the bathroom door."
"Quinn?" Wade looked to her friend for confirmation. Quinn looked up and nodded.
"But what's scary about that, Professor? I mean, so we're seeing a few ghosts. They can't harm us and we can't do them any harm so what's with all the drama. When we slide outta here, everything'll be back to normal. Right, Professor? Right Q-Ball?"
"Well, in point of fact, no Mr Brown. In our present state, both of our groups are essentially trapped. We're quite real in this world. They are quite real in the world in which they have slid into. The crossover is merely affecting the timers and the home sliding machines, and of course showing our counterparts glimpses of us in this world, glimpses of pieces of furniture which is the same in ours and theirs. Just as we are getting glimpses of them in theirs. Without our timer setting itself back to a slide time - and it shows no sign of that at the moment - we're unable to slide anywhere."
Wade rose from the bed and sat herself down next to Quinn. She reached out and slipped a hand into his. He looked up, surprised but grateful. They hadn't heard the worst of it yet. Maybe the Professor hadn't guessed the rest. But Quinn had. Quinn knew something no one knew.
He eyed Wade. How would she take the news? He couldn't tell how she'd react sometimes. If he were right about the rest of their predicament then she'd be devastated - they all would be. He didn't know the facts for sure, but he had a good idea. He knew enough about the sliding mechanism to guess the rest.
"You can fix the timer, right Q-Ball?" Rembrandt asked, his face breaking into a hopeful grin. "I mean you can fix anything. You're Q-Ball."
Quinn smiled back. Sometimes their faith in his abilities was awe inspiring. He usually managed by muddling through and things always turned out right. He couldn't muddle through this one though. They had choices to make and paths to turn down and none of them would be easy.
He loosed Wade's hand and rose to his feet.
"There's something you should all know. There's something we've got to do and somewhere we've got to go if we're going to try and get out of this muddle," he announced slowly.
"You sound so dramatic," Wade offered, looking worried.
"It is dramatic, Wade," Quinn replied swiftly and shot her a look of warning.
"Look guys, what the Professor says is true. The shadows are our counterparts, sliders from another world. The problem is I think they're sliders from *this* world. Their machine is probably in their Quinn's basement on this world and we've got to find it."
"My boy, do you realize what you're saying?" Arturo blasted as he stood up, realization dawning on him what Quinn was suggesting.
"Yes, Professor I do. It also means that the shadows we are seeing are now stuck on *our* own world. Somehow we've got to get them to go to my machine and reset it, we've got to communicate with them somehow." Quinn caught Wade's eye.
Wade caught her breath. Although she knew what he was about to say, she had to ask anyway.
"When you say reset our machine. Do you mean change the way it's working our timer? Quinn that'll mean...."
"I know. It'll mean that we'll probably never get home again."
"How do you know they're from our world?" Wade breathed. She felt sick. Never to be able to get home. All their hopes dashed. She hoped for once Quinn was wrong. She knew in her heart he wasn't.
Quinn took her hand and led her from the bed in silence. He opened the bathroom door and guided her in. Turning her gently around, he faced her to the mirror.
The words, written on the steamy surface of the mirror were starting to fragment as the room cooled. But they were decipherable. Wade swallowed as she read them.
"HOME WORLD SLIDERS"
oOo
"How do we know our shadows will do the same as us?" Wade asked as she trotted alongside a silent Quinn.
"We don't. But don't forget that in essence they should be very much like us, at least in the way they would analyze things out. I'm hopeful of that at least," he added.
"Yeah. This one's really screwing with my mind. The odds of sliding into a world when the other group is sliding at the same time into ours. Gee, I can't even begin to think about how it happened," Wade continued. She glanced up at Quinn. He looked serious. Perhaps more serious than she'd seen him look in a long time.
"How worried are you?" she asked quietly, glancing behind to see how far Arturo and Rembrandt were. They seemed to be keeping up but were at last far enough so that she could hold a private conversation with her friend.
"Does "very" sound enough?" Quinn answered sardonically, then quickly added "Sorry, I'm not getting at you Wade. I just feel this whole thing's beyond me. I mean I'm not even as experienced as the Professor and yet you're all looking to me to sort this mess out. Frankly I don't know if I can."
He looked so unhappy that Wade slipped her arm through his and squeezed up against him.
"Just do your best," she murmured.
He turned and smiled weakly at her. He was grateful for the never-ending support she always gave him. No matter how down he got, how inadequate he felt, she was there. For that he would always be grateful.
The Mallory house loomed ahead. Quinn always got that sense of belonging when he managed to see it, on any of the worlds they visited which still resembled the San Francisco he knew and loved.
"I wonder which members of my family are on this world?" he mused out loud as they approached the gate and pushed it open. It didn't squeak. Wade and he exchanged knowing glances.
"Quinn Mallory, I wish you'd tell me when you're going off on these long visits."His mother declared as she kissed him on the cheek and ushered the group into the hall.
"I suppose you want to go down to that darned basement first off?" she offered seeing the anxious look on her son's face.
"I actually thought you were down there already, there's been some strange noises down there, but I guess it's just the cat!" she called after them as they fled down the steps. She shook her head and went back to her baking in the kitchen. She'd make his favorite meal, that would cheer them up.
Quinn flicked the light switch and flooded the basement with a warm glow. He heard Rembrandt gasp as the scene unfolded before them.
The sliding machine was alight, it's machinery whirring steadily in the corner. In the center of the room hung a field of energy which resembled a vortex but wasn't. It looked like some kind of holographic Christmas image. The colors were fantastic and the sparks of energy which moved outwards from it quite exotic.
"Wow!" was all that Wade could manage as she stared, saucer eyed at the image which confronted them.
"I think we've found the source of the trouble, my dear Mr. Mallory!" Arturo stated solemnly as he moved to go around it.
"Be careful, Professor. Don't want to end up having to peel you off the walls if that suddenly zaps you!" Rembrandt suggested almost in a whisper.
"I don't think its energy is dangerous. Mr. Brown. Just very exotic looking. Don't you worry about me, I'm used to taking care of myself!" Arturo murmured as he put a hand towards the outside of the field and let the green light which forked out from it, wrap itself around his hand and then start to finger his arm.
"Look out, Professor!" Quinn warned too late. The light which had gently caressed Arturo's arm suddenly glowed brighter, and a large cracking sound accompanied the shout of pain as the Professor was flung backwards against the wall.
"Professor!" Wade rushed forward to help Arturo who sat looking rather dazed against the wall.
"Perhaps caution would be best!" Arturo mumbled slightly incoherently as Wade helped him to his feet.
Quinn smiled. He'd been about to do the same thing himself and he knew he wasn't immune to the feeling of curiosity overwhelming good sense sometimes.
"Hey man, look at this," Rembrandt beckoned Quinn to the front of the "vortex".
"It's acting as a giant window," Quinn observed, staring with fascination into the depths of the hole.
Wade stood staring into the hole and swallowed hard.
"That's your basement!" she grabbed Quinn's arm and pointed her finger towards the depths of the picture.
"My God, it's showing us an image of our own world," Arturo commented slowly, his own throat feeling the lump which was forming.
"Can't we just somehow go through it, Quinn?" Wade turned to ask her friend who stood staring at his own world.
"You saw what it did to the Professor. My guess is that the field would just incinerate us. Anyone want to try it?" he turned to gaze at his friends, each in turn.
Each met his gaze and turned away.
Wade moved to study the books on the shelves. She wanted to know more about the Quinn of this world. Maybe it would help them somehow. She also wanted to find the computer. People put things on computer sometimes that they didn't want others to find. Passwords were her specialty. And a password that a Quinn would use would be a piece of cake. She smiled wickedly to herself as she spotted the computer and proceeded to switch it on.
Arturo browsed the bookshelves as well. He needed to get a handle on the world in which they were. Anything might help them. Anything at all.
Rembrandt came to stand by Quinn who was silent now. His eyes seemed transfixed on the vortex.
Rembrandt followed his gaze and saw what was interesting him. He squeezed his shoulder for comfort.
Mrs Mallory had appeared in the basement of their own world, staring at the strange field in front of her. She was mumbling something to herself which Quinn couldn't quite catch. Thankfully she wasn't going near to it. Quinn could just see her outline as she moved cautiously around it. He smiled to himself. Trust his mother to be cautious. Just as well really after what they'd witnessed happen to Arturo. He felt a pang of longing to be with her. His real mother. He wanted to reach out to her. But he couldn't. He could just stare through and drink in the look of her.
Then he caught the words she said and his heart sank.
"They said to let them know if anything strange happened. Now where was that number they gave me last year? I'd better let them know this thing's appeared."
She continued to mumble as she moved away from the field. Quinn felt a mixture of feelings rise in him. His heart was beating loudly in his chest after seeing his own mother. No matter how many duplicates he saw, his own mother was the one who was close to his heart. It hurt him now to see her and not be able to tell her he was safe and that he loved her.
He looked up at Rembrandt who hovered near to his shoulder.
"Maybe we'll get back when we slide from here, Q-Ball," he offered hopefully but caught the look in Quinn's eye as he shook his head.
"We haven't got long now. Mom's about to call in the authorities, she was mumbling something about letting someone know if anything strange happens. We've got to do something and we've got to do it quick," he announced in a loud voice.
Wade looked up. She glimpsed a shadow glide across the room and then stop and turn. She felt no fear, just curiosity. The image moved away again, approaching another shadow.
"We've got company, guys."
"They must have slipped into your own basement when your mother left it back home," suggested Arturo as he watched a shadow slip past him to the far end of the bookcase.
"They're looking for clues like us. Good, maybe we'll get somewhere with eight of us looking!" Quinn grinned at the thought.
Wade beckoned Quinn with her hand.
"I've found a file which your double had under some strange security lock-out. I think it's what you're looking for," she declared excitedly.
"Can you get into it?" Quinn asked worriedly.
"Already have. He sure used some strange passwords though," she added mischievously.
"How did you do it then?" Quinn demanded as he reached her side and peered at the screen.
"Never you mind. I know your thoughts inside out, Quinn Mallory," Wade offered impishly.
"Remind me to continue this conversation elsewhere," Quinn whispered into her ear.
Wade grinned.
"Okay, he was working on some sort of enhancement to the vortex. Looks like he was designing it to work so that they could get out of an alternate world at the flick of a switch on the timer. Not preset like ours was originally. Look at the designs on here, Professor." Quinn pointed to some computer enhanced diagrams of a timer, very like their own but with some obvious modifications in design.
"Looks like the sliders on this world were more advanced in their knowledge of sliding than we are my boy," Arturo observed as he looked at the screen.
"Yep. And that means that any change to the machine here or in our world will have to be initiated by our counterparts, since they have the more advanced machine and better knowledge," Quinn agreed and sat down heavily on the steps.
"How on earth are we supposed to communicate with them? We need to get them to adjust things their end and tell us what to do this end. If we don't, I think we're all stuck," Quinn remarked bitterly. He felt truly incapable of doing much. If the sliders on this world had only been less technical then he might have been able to rig something up. Not only did he not understand the field, which hung in the middle of the room and seemed to be connecting the two worlds, he didn't understand how the other Quinn had rigged up the new timer.
"Quinn come here, quickly!" Wade's voice shattered his depressing thoughts and caused his stomach to lurch.
"What's up?"
"Look!" She's moved across to the middle of the room and was pointing excitedly into the field and at the image which was confronting them on the opposite side of the hole.
Quinn stared into the eyes of his counterpart. This time it was no shadow. It was the actual image of the other Quinn, reflected back to him through the field.
The words which this Quinn was saying were muffled but just decipherable as Quinn strained to catch them.
As he turned to look triumphantly at his three friends he smiled.
"He says he knows what we've got to do. He knows how to fix the machines so we can each slide home again!"
oOo
Wade threw her hands round Rembrandt's neck and hugged him tight. The grin across her face lit her dark eyes, and they shone.
"All right!" Rembrandt shouted, hugging her back. "Home at last. Man, that would feel good!"
Wade laughed and then bent over and kissed Quinn gently on the head.
He returned her smile and tried to concentrate on the scene which was taking place on the other side of the vortex.
He could just make out his counterpart talking to the Professor who was standing with him. They seemed to be arguing. Quinn couldn't make out what was going on but there seemed to be some disagreement as to what instructions Quinn was about to receive.
"Someone fetch a pen and paper, fast!" Quinn suddenly exclaimed as he gripped Arturo's shoulder and stared intently into the field at the image on the other side.
The large piece of card which the alternate Quinn held up contained scientific calculations and a set of instructions.
Quinn grabbed the pen which Wade thrust into his hand and started to scribble the exact same calculations onto a piece of paper.
"Did you get it all my boy?" Arturo asked as the card was removed on the other side of the vortex and the alternate Quinn stood staring in at them.
"Yep. Got it all. My God, I hope they know what they're doing over there!" Quinn muttered as he put a thumb up to his image on the other side and then proceeded over to the sliding machine.
Arturo took the timer from his pocket and passed it to Rembrandt.
"Mr Brown, watch the display like a hawk. At the slightest sign that the display is settling down, shout!"
Rembrandt nodded. "Got it, Professor!"
He perched on the steps and stared intently at the display which was still dancing randomly.
"Wade! Watch through the vortex. Let me know if they come to tell us anything else!"
Wade nodded at Quinn then settled herself in front of the field. As she stood there she felt the presence of a shadow next to her. She glanced sideways and felt a shudder pass through her. The face was clearer now, the features decipherable as a person.
She gazed at her transparent alterimage for a minute and then stared back at the field. The shadow did the same.
Wade smiled secretly. Her counterpart had obviously been charged with the same task on their own home world.
For what seemed like an age, but was in essence ten minutes, Quinn and Arturo reset the controls on the sliding machine and entered the coordinates which Quinn's counterpart had written down for them.
When they were satisfied that the task was accomplished, they joined Wade at the entrance to the field.
"Any change, Rembrandt?" Quinn paused to ask Remmy as he passed.
"Uh Uh." Rembrandt shook his head then "Wait a minute. It's slowing down. Yeah, it's slowing down. Starting to settle.....wait it's stopping. Yeah. It's stopped at five minutes, thirty three seconds!" Rembrandt looked up triumphantly.
"Okay! Quinn stared hard into the field and then caught his counterpart looking back. The piece of card which was displayed in front of them, held up by the other Quinn, read "Five minutes, thirty three seconds".
The four sliders laughed out loud. They couldn't believe it. In five minutes they would swap places with the other sliders and be home. The anticipation was wonderful. They could almost taste their freedom at last. Freedom from sliding randomly. Freedom to get on with their lives. It sure felt good.
Wade felt the shadow beside her move away.
"Look, they're holding something else up," she said pointing.
"ARTURO, REMBRANDT, WADE, QUINN - 1,2,3,4."
"What does that mean, Q-Ball?" Rembrandt asked puzzled.
"I think it means we've got to slide in that order, Remmy," Wade answered ahead of Quinn.
"Of course, well done. We have to slide in the same pattern as them or it won't work!" Quinn beamed at Wade.
Wade gave the thumbs up sign and saw, for the first time, her own counterpart on the other side grin and give a thumbs up in return.
"It's really weird seeing the shadows in here and their real images through the window!" she commented as she glimpsed a shadow slide across the room.
"Hey, don't forget they feel the same way. We're shadows over there too!" Quinn replied and smiled.
"Ooh, creepy. I don't even know I'm over there. That's weird!" Wade answered and shuddered.
"Okay one minute, guys, are we ready?" Quinn turned to his friends.
"Professor, you're first, Rembrandt next, then Wade and I'll follow up with the timer!"
They all nodded.
"They're putting up another card, Quinn!" Wade exclaimed.
"POINT THE TIMER AT THE FIELD TO SLIDE! GOOD LUCK AND THANKS!"
Quinn read the message out and grinned. He put a thumb up in thanks to his counterpart who grinned back.
The timer beeped its warning and Quinn pointed it at the field.
"Stand well back people!" he ordered as the light spiked out from the device and folded back the dimension, creating the brilliant blue tunnel. As it hit the field it sparked wildly then settled down to its normal cool, calm ripple.
"Okay Professor go!"
Arturo leapt forward and hurtled through. Rembrandt took one look behind him then launched himself forward to follow.
Wade smiled at Quinn. "See you back home!" she shouted as she leapt forward and almost somersaulted into the void.
Quinn turned to glance at the room. He mentally crossed his fingers that this slide would be the last for quite a long while - at least until they could control it better - and then jumped forward.
***
As the four counterpart sliders left the home basement, the sound of crashing came from the stairs as Mrs Mallory threw open the door and let the two FBI agents into the basement. The agents glimpsed Quinn's counterpart as he leapt through the void, the field beginning to close behind him as well.
The FBI agent nearest the machine grabbed the controls and flicked two switches. He didn't care which ones, he just flicked those nearest to him.
"That won't get them back here!" the other agent hissed as he threw his hands in the air in disgust at seeing their prey flee.
"Nope. But it sure as hell will cause them some trouble!" the other one laughed.
"Idiot! The orders are to apprehend them not kill them!" came the reply.
"Well maybe they'll come back if they don't like where the machine's sent them!" laughed the agent as he switched off the light and moved the confused Mrs Mallory back up the stairs.
***
The shapes which passed through the vortex in front of the sliders and seemed to travel with them for some distance, were calling out loudly. Quinn couldn't make out the sound but he knew that they were sounds of delight. He grinned as he slid. He guessed that their counterparts were anticipating getting home as much as they were.
The rock which Quinn hit hard, took his breath away as he landed. He groaned loudly and clutched at his chest. He felt winded and sore.
"Is everyone all right?" he asked as he tried to pull himself to his feet and try to imagine how he could have hit a boulder in his own home basement.
The sight of a rifle, it's nozzle pointed directly at him, rather took him by surprise.
He glanced round to see Arturo and Rembrandt on their feet, hands behind their backs looking far from happy.
Wade was sitting on a rock with a rifle at her neck. A rather burly guard dressed in a gray uniform of some sort was busy chaining her hands behind her back.
"You okay?" he hissed at her as he was hauled to his feet.
She nodded and raised her eyebrows at him, the look betraying how she felt.
"They've sure changed your basement!" were the only words she could manage.
THE END
Copyright by Jules Reynolds (July 1996)
(Julia@wrenlea.demon.co.uk)
The following story is intended for entertainment purposes only. This
document can be freely distributed with the condition that no part of
the text is modified, and this notice is included with all copies.
This document cannot be sold or translated into any other form without
written permission from the author. Some characters and elements of
this story are the property of St Clare Entertainment, used without
authorization. No copyright infringement is intended. The author
receives no compensation from the distribution of this work. Any
comments or criticism would be welcome.
PART ONE
Shapes that materialize from nothing. Shadows are mere images in your mind, an elusive mirage which tease the senses and light the imagination until you believe your eyes no more. Shadows cannot exist, they are of no substance, they cannot harm you or tear you from the path upon which you tread.
If all this were true why did Wade feel so afraid, so alone, sliding along the vortex behind Quinn. He was right in front of her. But he wasn't somehow. She might as well be alone. She couldn't see him properly anyway.
To her mind it seemed that the slide was continuing into infinity. The long unending slide to the next world.
The shapes which had caught her eye fleetingly were dark somehow, foreboding echoes from somewhere. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on their journey. It was funny, she'd never had time before to think like this, to even contemplate her surroundings. Sliding was such a roller-coaster of a ride she hardly had time to catch her breath before being ejected, usually fairly unceremoniously into the next world. This time though...
The shape which reared up in front of her seemed to come from the tunnel wall itself and she pulled her head back instinctively. It was too blurred to make out properly but she thought she heard a sound as it passed before her eyes and blinked from existence.
She exited the tunnel with her hands covering her eyes, slamming to the sidewalk in the usual undignified manner which sliding necessitated.
"Ouch!" she yelled, as she rubbed her shoulder and realized there'd be a nice bruise there shortly.
"Geez, that was some ride!" declared Rembrandt, shaking his head unhappily.
"Yes, interesting wasn't it?" answered Arturo as he pulled himself up from the floor.
"Come on Miss Welles, nursing your bruises won't help them," he remarked playfully and held out his hand.
Wade took the offered hand and rose to her feet. She looked at the men with a puzzled expression.
"Did you guys notice anything different back there?" she asked, turning her eyes towards Quinn who was busy examining the timer and looking back at the vortex which was just blinking out of existence.
"Uh, yeah, kind of," he replied distantly. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes not registering Wade, but peering at the space which the vortex had occupied.
"Well?" Wade persisted firmly, moving to be by his side.
"Um...well what?" he turned his head and stared vacantly at her.
"Oh, come on Quinn, you just said you did notice something different. Tell me what you saw." She punched him playfully on the arm and studied his worried expression.
Quinn shrugged his arm away from her and peered at the timer. Wade glanced down at it. The figures were leaping across the display faster than she'd ever seen them. They were moving backwards, then forwards. In fact to Wade, it seemed as though they didn't know what to do. If a timer could be construed as confused then this timer sure was.
"*What* is wrong with that?" she offered, looking puzzled.
Rembrandt and Arturo joined her at Quinn's side and looked over his shoulder.
"My God, it seems to be randomly selecting a slide window. It's never done that before," Arturo remarked and reaching across Wade, removed the timer from Quinn's hand to look more closely. "How very peculiar!"
Quinn didn't seem to notice that he no longer had the timer, he continued staring at the empty space again.
Wade shook his arm furiously.
"Come on, snap out of it, will you?" she insisted, getting more irritated with his dreamy state.
"What? Oh, sorry Wade. What did you say about seeing things back there?" Quinn turned and gripped her hard on the shoulders and stared down intently into her eyes.
Wade saw a fear reflected in Quinn's face, in his eyes. She'd rarely seen that before. Perhaps something had unnerved him back in the vortex, perhaps the same things which had unnerved her.
"I just thought I saw........" she started to explain.
"...shadows, specters...you know that sort of thing?" he continued for her, his eyes burning into her own.
"Yeah, kind of," she agreed nodding her head, grateful in a way that he'd also seen them but terrified of the consequences.
He breathed out heavily and let go her shoulders. He turned his head away for a moment and she saw him take a deep breath.
"What about them? What do you know about them?" she pushed him further. She knew Quinn wouldn't just accept that there'd been other things in the slide with them. He'd want to know more. He ignored her questions.
"Did either of you see anything in there? Anything odd? Anything at all?" Quinn turned first to Rembrandt and then Arturo, who was seated on the edge of the sidewalk engrossed with the timer's display.
"Yeah, Q-ball. I saw shapes of some sort. Thought the old eyes were playin' tricks on me. That's all. Just playin' tricks." Rembrandt shrugged his shoulders. He'd seen shapes sure. Dark shapes. But they hadn't bothered him. He was convinced it was his own feverish imagination. He'd had a few beers before the slide, hadn't he? He could've had too many. Hell, could you be drunk in charge of sliding? Rembrandt wasn't sure. He didn't feel like he'd had too much to drink, admittedly. Two beers? Nah - he wasn't drunk. Anyway, now he was hearing Q-Ball and Wade telling it like they'd seen these shape things too.
Rembrandt shook his head and turned to Arturo.
The Professor looked up slowly, his face serious, and met Quinn's penetrating stare.
"Yes, my boy, I saw them," he answered simply and then turned back to the timer.
"What? What does this mean, Quinn?" Wade grabbed Quinn's arm and swung him round to face her, furious at his attempts to stonewall her questions.
"I don't know, Wade and that's the truth. I just don't know. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, just like Rembrandt did. If you hadn't mentioned seeing them I expect we all would have just thought we were imagining them," he replied gently.
"The slide was infinitely longer than normal, my boy," Arturo remarked quietly as he looked up and then pulled himself to his feet.
"Yes, I noticed," Quinn answered and took the timer from the Professor. The display hadn't settled. It still hadn't made its mind up as to when they were going to slide out.
"Look, we've got to sort the timer out. Something's interfering with it. I dunno what but I suggest we get out of this area and check into a hotel for the night." Quinn looked up at the encroaching darkness. "Night's falling fast. We'd better do it now guys."
"Seems pretty normal here, Q-Ball," Rembrandt commented as they strolled towards the Dominion Hotel.
Wade had her arm linked through Rembrandt's and was feeling a lot happier now she knew her mind hadn't been playing tricks on her. She felt as if she could cope with almost anything provided they were safely together.
"Don't be fooled, Mr. Brown. We've got ourselves into trouble with that presumption before, remember?" Arturo offered as he strolled behind them, his hands linked behind his back.
"Oh, sure Professor I remember all right," Rembrandt replied and grinned down at Wade who was smiling. They had tended to hope for the best in the worlds they visited and invariably came unstuck.
"Ah, the Dominion. How pleasant the sight of familiarity is," Arturo announced, beaming across his face as they pushed the doors open.
***
"Hey, we've had this room before!" shouted Wade as she raced to get to the bathroom first. She felt in dire need of a hot bath and it was first in who got the first draw of water.
"Aw, Wade. How d'ya always do that?" Rembrandt groaned and threw a cushion across the bedroom. It hit the door as Wade closed it to behind her. They could hear the squeals of laughter from behind it.
"Still pondering the slide, Mr. Mallory?" Arturo asked as he sat down on one of the beds beside the silent form of Quinn.
"Yeah. It doesn't make sense. I've never seen anything in the vortex before. Just us. I still can't put my finger on what it was I saw or you saw, or any of us saw. And the timer doing this." Quinn held the device out, its display seemed to be running out of control.
"Well, we can't slide with it doing that, now can we?" Arturo remarked gently. "I suggest we make sure that it is by the bed at all times. Consider that if it does decide to go off, the bleep will wake us up. We will then have time to throw ourselves through the vortex if necessary."
"Good idea," Quinn replied and forced a smile across his lips. But he didn't feel like smiling. He didn't feel like it at all.
***
Wade luxuriated in the bath water. It was pleasantly warm and the hotel, as always, provided nice bath oil. All thoughts of the strange slide in, were dismissed for the pure pleasure of the moment, as she closed her eyes and let her thoughts simmer gently.
She felt a draft, as though the door had opened and then shut. Without opening her eyes she pushed herself further under the suds, until her neck and head were the only visible parts of her.
"Aw, come on guys. Can't a girl have privacy?" she moaned, not bothering to open her eyes. They were getting back at her for taking the bath before them, the rotten lot. What trick would they play on her this time?
"Hey, how d'ya open the door? I locked it from the inside this time, in case you pulled some sort of stunt like this!" she called out and gingerly opened her eyes to see which one was going to get the rough edge of her tongue when she emerged from the bathroom.
The door was shut tight and she noticed the key still turned in the lock.
"Hey come on guys, this isn't funny. Quit kidding. I just want to........."
The words froze in her throat as she stared at what appeared before her.
The shape moved slowly and casually, in and then out again through the body of the locked door and moved to the end of the bath. It was difficult to make out. A misty vapor was all Wade could see. Dark and shifting. It was almost fluid in consistency and yet formed.
Wade rubbed her eyes hard and shook her head. The shape came closer. She could make out the shape now. It was a human form, darkened into shadow. As it reached near to her head to lift something from the side of the bath and yet not, she gasped. The noise came out as a strangulated groan as she saw what appeared to be a face.
***
The scream echoed around the hotel bedroom.
Quinn leapt to his feet and stared at Rembrandt who was also on his feet, and then he froze. He watched in mute fascination as a dark shadow moved swiftly through the locked bathroom door and proceeded to pass through the bedroom and beyond, out into the corridor.
Arturo looked at the two men.
"Did you see what I think I saw?" he asked slowly, his eyes wide.
"It looked like a ghost to me, Professor," Rembrandt answered and turned to Quinn who was reaching for the bathroom door, his face a whiter shade of pale.
"No it was something much more interesting than that," replied the somewhat subdued voice as he tried to open the door.
"Wade, open the door!"
Quinn's voice echoed through the locked door and reached the ears of the girl submerged beneath the water. She pushed her head up through the suds and peered nervously across the bathroom.
"Quinn? That you? Has..has it gone?" she squeaked apprehensively. She didn't want to look round her in case she saw it again.
"Yeah, it's gone Wade. Open up! Come on!" Quinn pushed on the door but he could feel that it was locked.
"All right, don't break it. I'll open it." He smiled to himself as he heard the tentative patter of wet feet across the bathroom floor and the key turn in the lock.
"*What* was that?" she asked as she peered nervously around the door, a large white towel wrapped around her body. Her hair was dripping water everywhere, her face looked small and smothered poking out from the top of the towel.
"I guess we thought you could tell us. You screamed!" Quinn answered, his eyes softening at her wide eyed look.
"I didn't scream! Didn't you hear it? *It* screamed, not me," Wade declared, looking unhappily at them, as she came into the room.
"My dear Miss Welles. Did you see any sort of face on the....um shadow?" Arturo asked gently as he rose to hand Wade her clothes. She was now shivering and trying to towel herself while retaining some degree of dignity.
"No. It was too blurred. The shape kinda looked familiar but I don't know why it would," she continued, then moved back into the bathroom with her clothes, talking while she dried behind the door.
Arturo and Rembrandt exchanged looks then looked at Quinn.
"What? What do you want me to say?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Tell us what you meant by "more interesting", dear boy. Perhaps that would be a start." Arturo encouraged.
Quinn shrugged and swallowed.
"Hey, you guys have gone quiet! Talk to me!" Wade's voice floated from the bathroom as she finished dressing.
As Quinn made his mind up to swallow his nerves. To face up to explain his theory to the others, the decision was taken from his hands.
The shadows flowed through the door as liquid flows from a jug into a glass. Effortlessly and cleanly. Rembrandt and Arturo backed against the wall to avoid the encroaching shapes as they moved swiftly towards the bathroom.
"Wade, get out of there, fast!"
There were four of them now. Quinn had called his warning to Wade just in time.
As she came to see why she had to move, she saw the four shapes advance towards her and then hesitate. They were more defined now. More recognizable. There didn't seem to be any malevolence in them. Wade felt her fear melt away and curiosity took its place.
She moved to Quinn's side and watched the shapes turn to look at the four Sliders in turn. They too seemed mesmerized. They too were unsure of what to do.
"Quinn, they're frightened of us!" Wade hissed under her breath, afraid almost that they would catch her words. She was fascinated. They were still blurred but their substance was recognizable now. They were definitely human in shape.
She heard Rembrandt let out a low whistle.
"My God. I'm getting a bad feeling about this, my boy," Arturo muttered under his breath and reached to look at the timer. The display was still unsettled, still pondering its final resting place. The blue digits flashed as before.
"Yeah. I'm not feeling so good about it myself, Professor," Quinn admitted unhappily.
"Why? They're not going to hurt us, are they? I mean, they're like us. They're ghosts or something. Ghosts can't hurt us," Wade mumbled, her eyes fixed on the shapes in front of her.
"So speaks the person who just hid in her bathwater when she saw one," mocked Quinn gently.
"How d'ya know that?" she turned and looked at him, annoyed.
"You came out with soap suds in your hair!" laughed Quinn. The atmosphere was lightened slightly.
"I have a theory about this, but I'm not sure if I'm right," stated Arturo as he sank back onto the bed to think.
The shapes were still now, contemplating the four Sliders each in turn. They appeared to be as unnerved as they were. Then one of the shapes moved into the bathroom leaving the others. The door seemed to fragment before their eyes. Their bathroom door seemed to be shut and yet they could see a shadowy shape of a door opening, and echo almost of their own very solid door. As soon as it returned into the hotel room they moved as one through the closed bedroom door and into the corridor beyond.
"Where'd they go?" Wade asked as she watched them disappear.
"They're as disturbed about all this as we are, Miss Welles," Arturo offered and patted the bed beside him. Wade sat down heavily next to him. Rembrandt followed.
Only Quinn remained standing, staring at the closed door. His eyes narrowed and he moved towards the bathroom and in through the door. Within seconds he had emerged and joined the others. His face paler somehow, his eyes betraying nothing.
The rest of the group didn't seem to notice his face, they were busy concentrating on Arturo, waiting for his explanation.
"Do you know something we don't, Professor?" Rembrandt asked, putting an arm around Wade's shoulders. "You okay sweetheart?"
Wade nodded and smiled.
"My thoughts are purely hypothesis at this junction but if I'm right then I'm afraid we've got problems," Arturo sighed.
"I think I'm only a step behind you on this Professor," Quinn volunteered and pulled a face. "I don't like it either."
"Will you two stop talking like we're not here and explain!" Wade shouted at the two men.
"Sorry, Wade!" Quinn looked sheepish then sat down on the bed opposite them.
"Over to you, Professor."
"We all felt and saw the shapes which accompanied us on the slide into this world. We've all seen the way the timer's disrupted. At first I had a theory about the shadows. But I fear that I am wrong." Arturo hesitated and then rose to his feet. He felt better when he strode, especially when imparting news of a more sinister connotation.
Quinn put his hands to his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair, as though the action would somehow banish the thoughts which now ran through his mind.
"Can we cut to the main course, Professor," Rembrandt urged, looking pained at having to wait.
"Very well, but understand that this is all conjecture on my part. We have no proof of anything...yet."
"How do you mean, yet?" Wade was curious.
"I'll come to that Miss Welles, I'll come to that," Arturo replied, hedging until he was forced to discuss their options.
Wade pulled a face. She hated being given the run around.
"There are several threads to this mystery which, when joined together, have given me, I believe, a logical answer. The slide into this world was disrupted, of that I am sure. We spent longer in transit than I ever remember happening before. The shapes which accompanied us through the slide were part of that disruption. Their presence here in the hotel is proof. The duplication of that bathroom door, an echo of another door somewhere else. And the timer, we can see that it is totally disrupted. Not broken you understand - just disturbed." Arturo paused to see if his audience was fully understanding his words.
Wade and Rembrandt looked at one another and then at Quinn.
"Forgive me Professor, but how does this explain what those shapes were. I mean we know they looked like they were kind of ghosts, but you know what they really were, don't you?" Rembrandt locked eyes with Arturo and waited.
"I believe I do, Mr. Brown. I believe I do." Arturo replied and looked to Quinn for support.
The young student nodded slowly, his eyes reflecting agreement.
"Professor!" Wade was getting impatient. She hated it when Arturo pontificated for so long her nerves started to jangle.
"Your patience is about to be rewarded, Miss Welles. Or not, depending on how you view what I'm about to tell you," he added and smiled grimly.
"All right, all right. I believe that we have somehow intercepted a slide by another group of ourselves and somehow the two worlds are now inextricably linked. We are seeing the sliders as shadows and I have no doubt that they are also seeing us as shadows. Hence the scream from the shadow when it saw you Miss Welles. Well your shadow self at least. They seem to be in shock over seeing us as well. We've even seen an echo of parts of their hotel room with the bathroom door."
"Quinn?" Wade looked to her friend for confirmation. Quinn looked up and nodded.
"But what's scary about that, Professor? I mean, so we're seeing a few ghosts. They can't harm us and we can't do them any harm so what's with all the drama. When we slide outta here, everything'll be back to normal. Right, Professor? Right Q-Ball?"
"Well, in point of fact, no Mr Brown. In our present state, both of our groups are essentially trapped. We're quite real in this world. They are quite real in the world in which they have slid into. The crossover is merely affecting the timers and the home sliding machines, and of course showing our counterparts glimpses of us in this world, glimpses of pieces of furniture which is the same in ours and theirs. Just as we are getting glimpses of them in theirs. Without our timer setting itself back to a slide time - and it shows no sign of that at the moment - we're unable to slide anywhere."
Wade rose from the bed and sat herself down next to Quinn. She reached out and slipped a hand into his. He looked up, surprised but grateful. They hadn't heard the worst of it yet. Maybe the Professor hadn't guessed the rest. But Quinn had. Quinn knew something no one knew.
He eyed Wade. How would she take the news? He couldn't tell how she'd react sometimes. If he were right about the rest of their predicament then she'd be devastated - they all would be. He didn't know the facts for sure, but he had a good idea. He knew enough about the sliding mechanism to guess the rest.
"You can fix the timer, right Q-Ball?" Rembrandt asked, his face breaking into a hopeful grin. "I mean you can fix anything. You're Q-Ball."
Quinn smiled back. Sometimes their faith in his abilities was awe inspiring. He usually managed by muddling through and things always turned out right. He couldn't muddle through this one though. They had choices to make and paths to turn down and none of them would be easy.
He loosed Wade's hand and rose to his feet.
"There's something you should all know. There's something we've got to do and somewhere we've got to go if we're going to try and get out of this muddle," he announced slowly.
"You sound so dramatic," Wade offered, looking worried.
"It is dramatic, Wade," Quinn replied swiftly and shot her a look of warning.
"Look guys, what the Professor says is true. The shadows are our counterparts, sliders from another world. The problem is I think they're sliders from *this* world. Their machine is probably in their Quinn's basement on this world and we've got to find it."
"My boy, do you realize what you're saying?" Arturo blasted as he stood up, realization dawning on him what Quinn was suggesting.
"Yes, Professor I do. It also means that the shadows we are seeing are now stuck on *our* own world. Somehow we've got to get them to go to my machine and reset it, we've got to communicate with them somehow." Quinn caught Wade's eye.
Wade caught her breath. Although she knew what he was about to say, she had to ask anyway.
"When you say reset our machine. Do you mean change the way it's working our timer? Quinn that'll mean...."
"I know. It'll mean that we'll probably never get home again."
"How do you know they're from our world?" Wade breathed. She felt sick. Never to be able to get home. All their hopes dashed. She hoped for once Quinn was wrong. She knew in her heart he wasn't.
Quinn took her hand and led her from the bed in silence. He opened the bathroom door and guided her in. Turning her gently around, he faced her to the mirror.
The words, written on the steamy surface of the mirror were starting to fragment as the room cooled. But they were decipherable. Wade swallowed as she read them.
"HOME WORLD SLIDERS"
oOo
"How do we know our shadows will do the same as us?" Wade asked as she trotted alongside a silent Quinn.
"We don't. But don't forget that in essence they should be very much like us, at least in the way they would analyze things out. I'm hopeful of that at least," he added.
"Yeah. This one's really screwing with my mind. The odds of sliding into a world when the other group is sliding at the same time into ours. Gee, I can't even begin to think about how it happened," Wade continued. She glanced up at Quinn. He looked serious. Perhaps more serious than she'd seen him look in a long time.
"How worried are you?" she asked quietly, glancing behind to see how far Arturo and Rembrandt were. They seemed to be keeping up but were at last far enough so that she could hold a private conversation with her friend.
"Does "very" sound enough?" Quinn answered sardonically, then quickly added "Sorry, I'm not getting at you Wade. I just feel this whole thing's beyond me. I mean I'm not even as experienced as the Professor and yet you're all looking to me to sort this mess out. Frankly I don't know if I can."
He looked so unhappy that Wade slipped her arm through his and squeezed up against him.
"Just do your best," she murmured.
He turned and smiled weakly at her. He was grateful for the never-ending support she always gave him. No matter how down he got, how inadequate he felt, she was there. For that he would always be grateful.
The Mallory house loomed ahead. Quinn always got that sense of belonging when he managed to see it, on any of the worlds they visited which still resembled the San Francisco he knew and loved.
"I wonder which members of my family are on this world?" he mused out loud as they approached the gate and pushed it open. It didn't squeak. Wade and he exchanged knowing glances.
"Quinn Mallory, I wish you'd tell me when you're going off on these long visits."His mother declared as she kissed him on the cheek and ushered the group into the hall.
"I suppose you want to go down to that darned basement first off?" she offered seeing the anxious look on her son's face.
"I actually thought you were down there already, there's been some strange noises down there, but I guess it's just the cat!" she called after them as they fled down the steps. She shook her head and went back to her baking in the kitchen. She'd make his favorite meal, that would cheer them up.
Quinn flicked the light switch and flooded the basement with a warm glow. He heard Rembrandt gasp as the scene unfolded before them.
The sliding machine was alight, it's machinery whirring steadily in the corner. In the center of the room hung a field of energy which resembled a vortex but wasn't. It looked like some kind of holographic Christmas image. The colors were fantastic and the sparks of energy which moved outwards from it quite exotic.
"Wow!" was all that Wade could manage as she stared, saucer eyed at the image which confronted them.
"I think we've found the source of the trouble, my dear Mr. Mallory!" Arturo stated solemnly as he moved to go around it.
"Be careful, Professor. Don't want to end up having to peel you off the walls if that suddenly zaps you!" Rembrandt suggested almost in a whisper.
"I don't think its energy is dangerous. Mr. Brown. Just very exotic looking. Don't you worry about me, I'm used to taking care of myself!" Arturo murmured as he put a hand towards the outside of the field and let the green light which forked out from it, wrap itself around his hand and then start to finger his arm.
"Look out, Professor!" Quinn warned too late. The light which had gently caressed Arturo's arm suddenly glowed brighter, and a large cracking sound accompanied the shout of pain as the Professor was flung backwards against the wall.
"Professor!" Wade rushed forward to help Arturo who sat looking rather dazed against the wall.
"Perhaps caution would be best!" Arturo mumbled slightly incoherently as Wade helped him to his feet.
Quinn smiled. He'd been about to do the same thing himself and he knew he wasn't immune to the feeling of curiosity overwhelming good sense sometimes.
"Hey man, look at this," Rembrandt beckoned Quinn to the front of the "vortex".
"It's acting as a giant window," Quinn observed, staring with fascination into the depths of the hole.
Wade stood staring into the hole and swallowed hard.
"That's your basement!" she grabbed Quinn's arm and pointed her finger towards the depths of the picture.
"My God, it's showing us an image of our own world," Arturo commented slowly, his own throat feeling the lump which was forming.
"Can't we just somehow go through it, Quinn?" Wade turned to ask her friend who stood staring at his own world.
"You saw what it did to the Professor. My guess is that the field would just incinerate us. Anyone want to try it?" he turned to gaze at his friends, each in turn.
Each met his gaze and turned away.
Wade moved to study the books on the shelves. She wanted to know more about the Quinn of this world. Maybe it would help them somehow. She also wanted to find the computer. People put things on computer sometimes that they didn't want others to find. Passwords were her specialty. And a password that a Quinn would use would be a piece of cake. She smiled wickedly to herself as she spotted the computer and proceeded to switch it on.
Arturo browsed the bookshelves as well. He needed to get a handle on the world in which they were. Anything might help them. Anything at all.
Rembrandt came to stand by Quinn who was silent now. His eyes seemed transfixed on the vortex.
Rembrandt followed his gaze and saw what was interesting him. He squeezed his shoulder for comfort.
Mrs Mallory had appeared in the basement of their own world, staring at the strange field in front of her. She was mumbling something to herself which Quinn couldn't quite catch. Thankfully she wasn't going near to it. Quinn could just see her outline as she moved cautiously around it. He smiled to himself. Trust his mother to be cautious. Just as well really after what they'd witnessed happen to Arturo. He felt a pang of longing to be with her. His real mother. He wanted to reach out to her. But he couldn't. He could just stare through and drink in the look of her.
Then he caught the words she said and his heart sank.
"They said to let them know if anything strange happened. Now where was that number they gave me last year? I'd better let them know this thing's appeared."
She continued to mumble as she moved away from the field. Quinn felt a mixture of feelings rise in him. His heart was beating loudly in his chest after seeing his own mother. No matter how many duplicates he saw, his own mother was the one who was close to his heart. It hurt him now to see her and not be able to tell her he was safe and that he loved her.
He looked up at Rembrandt who hovered near to his shoulder.
"Maybe we'll get back when we slide from here, Q-Ball," he offered hopefully but caught the look in Quinn's eye as he shook his head.
"We haven't got long now. Mom's about to call in the authorities, she was mumbling something about letting someone know if anything strange happens. We've got to do something and we've got to do it quick," he announced in a loud voice.
Wade looked up. She glimpsed a shadow glide across the room and then stop and turn. She felt no fear, just curiosity. The image moved away again, approaching another shadow.
"We've got company, guys."
"They must have slipped into your own basement when your mother left it back home," suggested Arturo as he watched a shadow slip past him to the far end of the bookcase.
"They're looking for clues like us. Good, maybe we'll get somewhere with eight of us looking!" Quinn grinned at the thought.
Wade beckoned Quinn with her hand.
"I've found a file which your double had under some strange security lock-out. I think it's what you're looking for," she declared excitedly.
"Can you get into it?" Quinn asked worriedly.
"Already have. He sure used some strange passwords though," she added mischievously.
"How did you do it then?" Quinn demanded as he reached her side and peered at the screen.
"Never you mind. I know your thoughts inside out, Quinn Mallory," Wade offered impishly.
"Remind me to continue this conversation elsewhere," Quinn whispered into her ear.
Wade grinned.
"Okay, he was working on some sort of enhancement to the vortex. Looks like he was designing it to work so that they could get out of an alternate world at the flick of a switch on the timer. Not preset like ours was originally. Look at the designs on here, Professor." Quinn pointed to some computer enhanced diagrams of a timer, very like their own but with some obvious modifications in design.
"Looks like the sliders on this world were more advanced in their knowledge of sliding than we are my boy," Arturo observed as he looked at the screen.
"Yep. And that means that any change to the machine here or in our world will have to be initiated by our counterparts, since they have the more advanced machine and better knowledge," Quinn agreed and sat down heavily on the steps.
"How on earth are we supposed to communicate with them? We need to get them to adjust things their end and tell us what to do this end. If we don't, I think we're all stuck," Quinn remarked bitterly. He felt truly incapable of doing much. If the sliders on this world had only been less technical then he might have been able to rig something up. Not only did he not understand the field, which hung in the middle of the room and seemed to be connecting the two worlds, he didn't understand how the other Quinn had rigged up the new timer.
"Quinn come here, quickly!" Wade's voice shattered his depressing thoughts and caused his stomach to lurch.
"What's up?"
"Look!" She's moved across to the middle of the room and was pointing excitedly into the field and at the image which was confronting them on the opposite side of the hole.
Quinn stared into the eyes of his counterpart. This time it was no shadow. It was the actual image of the other Quinn, reflected back to him through the field.
The words which this Quinn was saying were muffled but just decipherable as Quinn strained to catch them.
As he turned to look triumphantly at his three friends he smiled.
"He says he knows what we've got to do. He knows how to fix the machines so we can each slide home again!"
oOo
Wade threw her hands round Rembrandt's neck and hugged him tight. The grin across her face lit her dark eyes, and they shone.
"All right!" Rembrandt shouted, hugging her back. "Home at last. Man, that would feel good!"
Wade laughed and then bent over and kissed Quinn gently on the head.
He returned her smile and tried to concentrate on the scene which was taking place on the other side of the vortex.
He could just make out his counterpart talking to the Professor who was standing with him. They seemed to be arguing. Quinn couldn't make out what was going on but there seemed to be some disagreement as to what instructions Quinn was about to receive.
"Someone fetch a pen and paper, fast!" Quinn suddenly exclaimed as he gripped Arturo's shoulder and stared intently into the field at the image on the other side.
The large piece of card which the alternate Quinn held up contained scientific calculations and a set of instructions.
Quinn grabbed the pen which Wade thrust into his hand and started to scribble the exact same calculations onto a piece of paper.
"Did you get it all my boy?" Arturo asked as the card was removed on the other side of the vortex and the alternate Quinn stood staring in at them.
"Yep. Got it all. My God, I hope they know what they're doing over there!" Quinn muttered as he put a thumb up to his image on the other side and then proceeded over to the sliding machine.
Arturo took the timer from his pocket and passed it to Rembrandt.
"Mr Brown, watch the display like a hawk. At the slightest sign that the display is settling down, shout!"
Rembrandt nodded. "Got it, Professor!"
He perched on the steps and stared intently at the display which was still dancing randomly.
"Wade! Watch through the vortex. Let me know if they come to tell us anything else!"
Wade nodded at Quinn then settled herself in front of the field. As she stood there she felt the presence of a shadow next to her. She glanced sideways and felt a shudder pass through her. The face was clearer now, the features decipherable as a person.
She gazed at her transparent alterimage for a minute and then stared back at the field. The shadow did the same.
Wade smiled secretly. Her counterpart had obviously been charged with the same task on their own home world.
For what seemed like an age, but was in essence ten minutes, Quinn and Arturo reset the controls on the sliding machine and entered the coordinates which Quinn's counterpart had written down for them.
When they were satisfied that the task was accomplished, they joined Wade at the entrance to the field.
"Any change, Rembrandt?" Quinn paused to ask Remmy as he passed.
"Uh Uh." Rembrandt shook his head then "Wait a minute. It's slowing down. Yeah, it's slowing down. Starting to settle.....wait it's stopping. Yeah. It's stopped at five minutes, thirty three seconds!" Rembrandt looked up triumphantly.
"Okay! Quinn stared hard into the field and then caught his counterpart looking back. The piece of card which was displayed in front of them, held up by the other Quinn, read "Five minutes, thirty three seconds".
The four sliders laughed out loud. They couldn't believe it. In five minutes they would swap places with the other sliders and be home. The anticipation was wonderful. They could almost taste their freedom at last. Freedom from sliding randomly. Freedom to get on with their lives. It sure felt good.
Wade felt the shadow beside her move away.
"Look, they're holding something else up," she said pointing.
"ARTURO, REMBRANDT, WADE, QUINN - 1,2,3,4."
"What does that mean, Q-Ball?" Rembrandt asked puzzled.
"I think it means we've got to slide in that order, Remmy," Wade answered ahead of Quinn.
"Of course, well done. We have to slide in the same pattern as them or it won't work!" Quinn beamed at Wade.
Wade gave the thumbs up sign and saw, for the first time, her own counterpart on the other side grin and give a thumbs up in return.
"It's really weird seeing the shadows in here and their real images through the window!" she commented as she glimpsed a shadow slide across the room.
"Hey, don't forget they feel the same way. We're shadows over there too!" Quinn replied and smiled.
"Ooh, creepy. I don't even know I'm over there. That's weird!" Wade answered and shuddered.
"Okay one minute, guys, are we ready?" Quinn turned to his friends.
"Professor, you're first, Rembrandt next, then Wade and I'll follow up with the timer!"
They all nodded.
"They're putting up another card, Quinn!" Wade exclaimed.
"POINT THE TIMER AT THE FIELD TO SLIDE! GOOD LUCK AND THANKS!"
Quinn read the message out and grinned. He put a thumb up in thanks to his counterpart who grinned back.
The timer beeped its warning and Quinn pointed it at the field.
"Stand well back people!" he ordered as the light spiked out from the device and folded back the dimension, creating the brilliant blue tunnel. As it hit the field it sparked wildly then settled down to its normal cool, calm ripple.
"Okay Professor go!"
Arturo leapt forward and hurtled through. Rembrandt took one look behind him then launched himself forward to follow.
Wade smiled at Quinn. "See you back home!" she shouted as she leapt forward and almost somersaulted into the void.
Quinn turned to glance at the room. He mentally crossed his fingers that this slide would be the last for quite a long while - at least until they could control it better - and then jumped forward.
***
As the four counterpart sliders left the home basement, the sound of crashing came from the stairs as Mrs Mallory threw open the door and let the two FBI agents into the basement. The agents glimpsed Quinn's counterpart as he leapt through the void, the field beginning to close behind him as well.
The FBI agent nearest the machine grabbed the controls and flicked two switches. He didn't care which ones, he just flicked those nearest to him.
"That won't get them back here!" the other agent hissed as he threw his hands in the air in disgust at seeing their prey flee.
"Nope. But it sure as hell will cause them some trouble!" the other one laughed.
"Idiot! The orders are to apprehend them not kill them!" came the reply.
"Well maybe they'll come back if they don't like where the machine's sent them!" laughed the agent as he switched off the light and moved the confused Mrs Mallory back up the stairs.
***
The shapes which passed through the vortex in front of the sliders and seemed to travel with them for some distance, were calling out loudly. Quinn couldn't make out the sound but he knew that they were sounds of delight. He grinned as he slid. He guessed that their counterparts were anticipating getting home as much as they were.
The rock which Quinn hit hard, took his breath away as he landed. He groaned loudly and clutched at his chest. He felt winded and sore.
"Is everyone all right?" he asked as he tried to pull himself to his feet and try to imagine how he could have hit a boulder in his own home basement.
The sight of a rifle, it's nozzle pointed directly at him, rather took him by surprise.
He glanced round to see Arturo and Rembrandt on their feet, hands behind their backs looking far from happy.
Wade was sitting on a rock with a rifle at her neck. A rather burly guard dressed in a gray uniform of some sort was busy chaining her hands behind her back.
"You okay?" he hissed at her as he was hauled to his feet.
She nodded and raised her eyebrows at him, the look betraying how she felt.
"They've sure changed your basement!" were the only words she could manage.
THE END