Episode 6: "Magg Incentive."
The last few weeks has been … has been an experience once again. Sliding from world to world we continue to do what we can and try to find a way to separate Quinn from Mallory. I have really gotten to know him the more we slide together. He makes me laugh, is ready to stand up for any of us, and is someone I can now count on as a close friend.
But it has not all been so good. We have come across some really terrible places, ones that I do not want to return to, reminding us of the dark side of human nature and the dangers of sliding. There was even a time when I wanted to go home. To go back to Earth Prime and search for my family and see if they were ok. But I can't leave the group now. We have to see this all through to the end. Who knows what awaits the end of each slide? But at least we can see it through … together.
Wade
A soft wind passed through the dark alley, lightly pushing at the litter, and at the garbage on the ground. It vanished as quickly as it had arrived and all was still again. The only light came from the dull glow of the moon as nothing else stirred at this time of night. The wind returned, this time with more force, causing paper and cans to be blown away. A bright circle of silver blue light suddenly appeared, swirling fast, and howling fiercely. An old beggar was awoken by the wind that hit against his cardboard home, and so he pulled the blanket from over his head, and had a look.
He gasped in shock at the bright light shining before him. He was stunned for words. There was something so beautiful about it and yet so powerful. A faint noise could be heard carried along with the wind, and soon there was a bright flash of light, the beggar got onto his feet in fright and ran screaming down the alleyway. Diana and Rembrandt were the first to be thrown from the vortex. They were seated inside a blue bumper car which skidded against the ground and stopped when it hit the side of the wall. They continued to laugh and gasp for breath at the same time.
"I … I can't believe we just did that." Laughed Diana.
Rembrandt smiled. "That's the most fun I've had in a long time."
"Aaghh! …"
They turned towards the vortex and saw the next flash of light, Maggie and Wade appeared strapped inside another bumper car, screaming loudly. The two suddenly burst into a fit of laughter as they hit the side of the other car. The next sound was unmistakable as Mallory came through last, crashing into Wade and Maggie's car, laughing hysterically. With a final howl the vortex faded from sight and the wind died down.
"Next time you guys get any ideas leave me out of it!" Said Maggie smiling, as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.
Mallory grinned. "That has to be more fun than any roller coaster!"
"Yeah, but it was also a lot more scarier." Added Wade.
The group undid their seat belts and climbed out of the bumper cars. They continued to laugh and catch their breath back and then took a look at their surroundings. It was the dead of night and no one else was in sight. Diana took the timer out of her pocket and checked the display. "Looks like we're only here for a few hours."
"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm beat." Said Maggie, stretching and looking around. "The hotel shouldn't be too far from here. We can get a suite."
Gathering their things they left the alleyway and headed out into the street, towards the hotel.
A few minutes later, in the same dark alleyway, a bright flash of red light suddenly appeared as a new vortex opened. Six Kromagg officers emerged from the gateway and quickly checked their surroundings.
"Commander!" One of the officers turned towards a Kromagg with more stars on his uniform's neck, this was the Commander. "We've identified this world as Earth 214. The tracking device inside the trans-dimensional facilitator that they carry indicates that they are here somewhere."
The Commander nodded. "Good. I want a perimeter search on the double now! Take Lotha and Kulis with you and pan out."
"Yes Sir!" The officer turned and nodding to two others nearby they ran down the alleyway, weapons drawn.
"Kelthor…"
"Almost ready Sir." A Kromagg officer had taken off his backpack and was setting up a strange device on the ground. "All set." He pressed a sequence of buttons and then a blue pulse of energy shot out and quickly spread through the entire area before disappearing from sight.
"Good." The Commander smiled, showing his pointed teeth. "With the Slide Field in place they will not be able to leave until we find them! The Sliders will soon be in our grasp!"…
What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?
What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?
Where it's the same year
And you're the same person
But everything else is different
And what if you can't find your way home…
Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown
Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles
Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett
Robert Floyd as Mallory
And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis
… Sliders!
Diana turned off the taps and the water stopped pouring into the bath. Walking back into the room, she sat down at the table with the others, where they were waiting for the food they had ordered to arrive. "When is it going to get here?" Maggie asked.
"They said in around ten minutes." Answered Mallory, a packet of crisps in his hands.
"That's way too long." She picked up the remote and turned the television set on.
"Well there's not much of interest in the papers." Said Rembrandt, folding it and laying it down onto the table. "Just the usual political feuds and gossip. Seems like another dull and boring world."
"You say it like that's a bad thing." Smiled Wade.
"Nope. I'll take dull and boring anytime."
Wade continued to smile and then saw a dull red light glowing from Diana's pocket. "Diana?…"
Diana looked up and followed her gaze. Reaching into her pocket she took out the timer and saw the red light that was flashing around the display. "It's never done that before…"
"Did you press anything?" Asked Maggie.
"No. Nothing." Diana looked the timer over. "It seems operational but that light is flashing. I don't know what it means."
"Maybe the power is running out." Seeing the concerned looks caused Mallory to stay quiet.
"Well he's got a point." Added Rembrandt. "We don't know much about this Kromagg timer except for the bits and pieces that Claire's researches have found out. For all we know it could be signalling exactly that."
"I just hope that there is something about it in here." Diana reached for her backpack and took out the translated notes on the timer. Nodding the others helped her to leaf through the notes for anything that looked relevant. This new development starting to cause concern.
The Kromagg Commander lifted up a device that he had retrieved from his backpack and searched for all the information that they had on Earth 214. After browsing through the files he put away the device and went over to an officer named Kelthor. "How large is the radius for the Slide Field?"
"The Slide Field should hold for up to a 250 mile radius. Anything outside that perimeter and they should be able to slide out. But not to worry…" He held up a scanning device. "The resonance of a wormhole has been picked up here. They should be nearby."
"Good." He turned to another officer. "Set up the trans-dimensional communications unit. Our superiors will be very eager to hear on our progress."
The Commander watched as the officer carried out his orders and the device was set up. The communications unit was bulky and only allowed for vocal speech by generating a tiny wormhole that carried the signal to the connected world. As he activated it the voice of his superiors came through.
"You must know how very important this mission is." Hissed the voice.
The Commander nodded. "I do. Do not worry, we will find and capture the Sliders."
"You had better!" Shouted the voice. "Rembrandt Brown can not be allowed to continue carrying the virus to other conquered worlds! He must be stopped at all costs. And Quinn Mallory as well! It will not take him long to figure out a way to stop us once and for all!" He paused. "The others we will break and obtain the information that they carry. Though Wade Welles we wish to be returned in tact so that we can … analyse her."
"I understand." The Commander relaxed as the voice vanished and the transmission ended.
"Awaiting your orders Sir." Said an officer.
"We wait until the scouts have returned. Then we press forward."
"Guys, I think I've found it." The group stopped what they were doing and turned to Wade. "It does not say much but it does say here that the red light around the display shows that the timer can not be activated."
"Can't be activated?" Questioned Diana.
Wade handed the papers to her then turned back to the group. "It mentions that the possible cause for the timer not opening a vortex is if some kind of field has been erected that will stop the slide."
"She's right." Said Diana, looking over the papers. "The red light signals that a Slide Field has been erected. Opening a vortex within the field radius would be impossible."
"But it does not look like this world has sliding technology." Stated Rembrandt.
"Then someone else has activated the field."
The group turned towards the door as they heard some footsteps.
"A bit late." Sighed Mallory. "Must be our food." Getting up he went over to the door. It suddenly burst wide open and he was thrown back. They gasped in shock as they witnessed six armed Kromaggs rush into the room.
"Kromaggs!" Shouted Wade.
Maggie quickly got up off of her chair to defend herself but thought better of it as a Kromagg aimed a weapon at her. She turned around to see the others and saw that they were all in a similar position. They were trapped. Looking forward she saw what looked like the Commander as he began laughing and walked up to them. "Who are you?" She demanded.
The Commander turned to her. "Ah, Maggie Beckett a pleasure to finally meet you." She fell silent. He turned his gaze and stared at the others. "Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown…" He stopped when he got to the last two. "But we don't know much about you two … yet."
"The name's Mallory."
"No." Cautioned Maggie.
He got the hint and bit his tongue.
"Mallory?" The Commander looked puzzled. "As in Quinn and Colin Mallory?" A wide smile spread across his lips. "Interesting."
Mallory wished that he had never spoken.
"The Slide Field … so it was you." Said Diana.
He laughed. "Where are my manners? My name is Chronun. I am in charge of this Seeker unit." He motioned to his men as they pushed the Sliders back down into their seats. "We have been tracking your progress ever since you reactivated the trans-dimensional facilitator that you acquired."
Diana glanced over to the table and at the Kromagg timer that was resting on it. One of the officers went over and handed it to the Commander. "Of course." She shook her head. "I should have known that you would be able to track your own technology."
"You Sliders have been a thorn in the Dynasty's side for far too long." His smile faded as he turned angry. "Now, where is Quinn Mallory? And where is his brother?" The group hesitated. "I will not ask you again: Where is Quinn Mallory?!"
"I…" Mallory began to speak but Wade cut him off.
"He's dead." She watched the Commander's expression and tried to force tears into her eyes. "Quinn and Colin died a few worlds back." She saw him digest this information.
"Hmm I see. Of course we'll have plenty of time to see if what you tell me is true. When we take you back to our camps and pry the information from you!"
"No!" Wade shouted out. "You … you can't!"
The Commander smiled. "Do not worry Miss Welles … my superiors have other plans for you." Wade's face turned pale. "And as for you…" He turned to Remmy. "Carrying around a lethal virus in your blood stream, we have heard of what you did, driving us from your world. Did you think that we could afford to let you live? And be assured that Quinn Mallory, wherever he is, will eventually be found … and executed!" As he turned to leave he stopped. "We slide out in the morning. I advise that you get some rest."
As he turned and left the room with two of his men, the others kept a watch on the Sliders, all hope seemed to be lost.
"What are we going to do?" Whispered Wade. "We've got to think of a way to get out of here!"
"It's ok Wade." Said Maggie. "We'll think of something. There's no way that we're gonna let them take us to one of their camps!"
"Well our numbers are almost the same. But they have the advantage." Said Mallory. "They have weapons and we don't."
"I think that we should wait until morning. There isn't much that we can do now. We might have a better chance if we wait until the last possible moment and then make our escape." Maggie turned to Wade. "I know that this is hard … no … maybe I won't ever be able to truly understand all that you have been through. All I can do is try, and this is the only option that I can see."
Wade slowly nodded her understanding.
"Try and get some rest Wade." Said Mallory. "It will be alright."
She took another look at the Kromaggs that were guarding the door and then tried to get comfortable in the chair. A cold fear was wrapped around her heart. Fear of being taken away by the Kromaggs again, fear of being taken away from her friends, fear of losing everything. She might have escaped once … but she could not see it happening a second time.
Rembrandt slowly opened his eyes. He tried to move as he felt a painful cramp all over his body and saw the light that was streaming through the window. It must still be early in the morning. Hearing a cough he turned and saw the two Kromagg officers that continued to stand guard by the door. Looking around the table he saw that the others were all asleep, all except for Wade.
"You could not sleep much either huh?"
Hearing his whisper she turned. "Remmy. I … I kept thinking back to when we were held together in that cell."
He sighed. "Yeah, me too."
"I just don't know if, don't know if I will be able to survive in there again. I just don't know!"
Rembrandt moved over to her. "Sshh. You won't have to find out. Because I won't let it happen! No matter how things turn out today I'm never gonna let them take you away again!" The two friends hugged tightly.
Groaning slightly, the others awoke, and soon remembered the situation that they were in. Once fully awake they tried to figure out a course of action.
"Well we've got to get out of this room first." Stated Maggie. "Then get our timer back and disable the Slide Field. Looks like that's up to you, Diana. Do you remember how much time we had?"
Diana thought back and then looked at her watch. "It will be a bit of a guess but I'd say we have around 35 minutes till the slide."
"That doesn't give us much time. Taking out those two is going to be the hardest part."
"We need some kind of a distraction." Offered Wade.
"… I think I've got just the thing."
Lotha nodded to his companion as he saw Mallory and Rembrandt leave the group and walk towards them. He lifted up his weapon and then got up from leaning against the wall. "What do you want, human?" He said in disgust and then smiled. "Offering me your eyes on a platter?" His companion laughed.
"Actually we have some information that might interest the Commander." Said Remmy. "Like on Quinn Mallory's real whereabouts."
"I am willing to make a deal with him and tell him all that he wants to know in exchange for letting me go." Said Mallory.
"What?!" Shouted Rembrandt. "I thought that we were in this together."
"Sorry Remmy but they would have killed you anyway."
"Why you…?!" Rembrandt stepped forward and began to fight with Mallory.
"Stop that!" Shouted Lotha. Seeing that he was not being listened to he handed his weapon over to Kulis and then tried to break them apart. "That's enough -" His words were cut short as they both suddenly stopped fighting, and turned to him, punching him back.
Kulis tried to raise his weapon but he had not seen Maggie coming from the side. She knocked the weapons out of his hands and then knocked him unconscious. Maggie quickly picked up one of the strange Kromagg weapons and handed the other to Rembrandt.
"That went better than I thought." Smiled Mallory.
"No time to celebrate yet." Said Maggie. "We still have to get the timer back."
The group rushed out of the room but stopped as they stepped onto the staircase and saw the Commander and three of his men waiting downstairs. The Commander's expression was one of pure shock as he saw the Sliders. "Stop them!" He shouted. "Shoot to kill if you have to! Just leave one of them alive!"
Maggie quickly led the team to the banister and they all ducked behind it as it provided cover from the fire of their weapons. It was not long before Maggie found out what was the trigger and began returning fire on the Kromaggs.
"Maggie we don't have a lot of time!" Shouted Diana over the weapon's fire.
"Ok. Remmy, cover me!" Maggie stood up and ran towards the stairs. The Kromaggs followed her, allowing Rembrandt to pick two of them off, as Maggie took out the third. Keeping her weapon on the Commander, Maggie descended the stairs, and retrieved the timer from him. "Looks like you lose Chronus. Now, where's the device that you are using to generate the Slide Field?"
He laughed. "You will never get it out of me."
Diana checked the silver timer. "We have less time than I thought! We've got just under 16 minutes!"
"Where is it?" Maggie insisted. He did not say a word.
"Wait." She turned as Diana spoke again. "One of them should have on them a remote device to turn the Slide Field off. It makes sense that they would have one so that they could deactivate it when they were ready to slide out!"
Wade and Mallory began checking the three dead Kromagg officers. "Is this it?" Asked Mallory, holding up a strange device.
Diana checked it over. "I think…" She pressed a button and then checked the timer. "That did it! The Slide Field has been deactivated!"
"You will not get away with this!" Hissed Chronus.
"Oh no?" Maggie stepped forward and whacked the weapon over his face, causing the Magg to fall to the ground. "Let's go guys!"
The group ran as fast as they could away from the hotel and through the busy street. It was only when Diana mentioned that they needed to stop did they slow and find an empty alleyway. Rembrandt watched as she quickly retrieved the tools from her backpack and began taking apart the timer. "Diana?"
"From what the Commander told us their tracking device isn't like the one that we have. They don't track the actual wormhole but the timer itself. There must be some kind of tracking chip embedded inside. I've got to find it!"
"Should you be doing that so close to the slide?"
"We don't have much choice Remmy." Said Wade. "They could just track us to the next world."
Maggie and Mallory kept guard by the end of the alleyway. "You'd better hurry! We've got company!"
Diana spotted the small blinking device inside the delicate electronics of the timer and carefully pulled it out. She then began putting the timer back together and checked the display. "Just in time!" She waited for a small moment and then activated the timer.
The stream of energy shot out and a fierce wind began to blow. Rembrandt waited until the silver blue vortex fully formed and then together with Wade they jumped through. Diana called out to the others and as they got nearer went through herself.
"Ready Maggie?" Asked Mallory.
"Ready!"
They ran forward and one after the other jumped into the swirling vortex, disappearing in a flash of light. The journey between worlds was as rough as always, with many complicated twists and turns, but eventually the familiar bright white light appeared from up ahead, signalling the end of the slide. Maggie fell through the vortex last and landed on some soft grass. Looking up she found that they had slid into some kind of grassy field.
"Looks like Diana saves the day again." Smiled Rembrandt. "Thanks to you they won't be able to track us anymore."
Diana smiled. "I'm just glad that I was able to take out the tracking device before the timer hit zero."
Maggie walked over to a relieved Wade and placed her arm around her. "You ok?"
"I will be."
"Well. I'm not surprised that we've landed in the middle of nowhere." Stated Mallory, looking around at the hills and mountains. "Since for the last few slides we've been right in the middle of the city. Do you think there is any civilisation here?"
"Who knows." Said Rembrandt. "But I'm sure that we'll find out."
Mallory smiled. "Why Remmy, do I detect a hint of an explorer in you?"
Laughing the others watched Rembrandt stretch his limps and breathe in the clean fresh air.
"Kulis!" Shouted the Commander. "The Sliders! Have you pinpointed their location?!"
"Commander I … I don't understand. According to this they are still here!"
Puzzled, Chronus looked around, and then suddenly spotted the small tracking device that was blinking on the ground. Picking it up he crushed it in his hands. His superiors were not going to be pleased.
End.