It took a good seven hours to hitchhike all the way to Long Beach, using five trucks. It was already dark by the time I got there. But here I am, in the Port of Long Beach.

The port was a huge place. Most of the vehicles here are trucks. I saw some rail; cars parked on railroad sidings. There were several ships docked, some attended with cranes. Even at this hour, I could see some longshoremen working on one of the cargo ships.

It was time for me to find a telephone. I reached a GTE public telephone. I looked up Quinn. He was still there. Hopefully, this duplicate of my brother was still at home. I dialed 0 for the operator.

"How may I direct your call?' asked the operator.

"562-433-6985," I said. "Tell him it is Colin."

I heard the phone ring, and then a female voice answered. "Colin, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," I said to her. "Is Quinn there?"

"He's working late. So, where are you?"

"The Port of Long Beach."

"What, did you desert?"

I wonder what she meant by that. "It's important that I talk to him."

"Could you pick me up?"

"Tell me where in the port you are."

So I waited in the port. And waited. And waited. I hoped that the police did not pick me up for loitering. Finally, someone shone a flashlight at me.

"Colin!" shouted the woman.

I immeditely got into the car, a Toyota Tercel. Soon we were driving along a street called Ocean Boulevard. I could see we were in the downtown area. There were a lot of tall buldings, like the Wells Fargo building and the Courtyard by Marriott.I looked at the driver of the car. She was in her mid-twenties, with blond hair.She had a tattoo on her forehead. I also notiuced that she was pregnant.

"Tell me what you are doing here," said the woman.

"I'm just visiting," I said. "I'm on a journey."

"Did you tell your unit about this?"

"My unit?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, your Marine unit. You may be my husband's brother, but..."

"You're married to Quinn?" I asked.

"You were at the wedding. How could you forge?. Let me say this. If you are deserting the Marines, I'm not going to hide you. You can spend the night. But if the Marines come looking for you, I'm gonna turn you in."

I sat down and looked out the window at this new world. I had encountered married duplicates of myself, not to mention Quinn.

After a few minutes, the woman parked the car in the garage of her home. Quinn's home.

The next day was a day full of surprises. It started out typical. I had

some Fruity Pebbles for breakfast,plus Webber's wheat bread and Minute

Maid orange juice. Quinn was dressed in a suit and tie,ready for work.

There was a knock on the door,and Quinn opened it.

I saw a raven-haired woman in a Marine dress uniform standing at the

door. I recognized her as Maggie Beckett.

"Maggie!" I said. "You're here! Where's Quinn and Remmy?"

"Do I know you?" she asked me. She turned to Quinn and said,"Mallory,if

this is one of your tricks." I had never heard Maggie call Quinn by his

last name.

"It's no trick,Major," replied my brother. "This man is from another

dimension of time. Look at his forearm."

I showed Maggie my forearm. She rubbed her finger against my forearm.

"No makeup," she said. "No scar. That means there was no bar code in

the first place."

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Colin Mallory," I replied. "I am Quinn's brother-or a counterpart thereof."

"Okay,Colin Mallory," she said to me. "You're coming with us." She led

me to a green Chevrolet sedan. Two MP's accompanied me. I saw Quinn get

inside a blue Ford Mustang. On the doors of the Chevrolet was

written,"U.S. MARINES FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" I sat inside the back seat.

Maggie started the car and we drove westbound on Second Street. After

passing through a bunch of shops and taverns and restaurants,she turned

left on Livingston Drive,and proceeded west on Ocean Boulevard. I can see

the Pacific Ocean on my left side,and houses on my right. After a few

minutes,we reached the downtown area,where there were tall buildings,lots

of cars,buses,and people. Then we crossed a long bridge,which Maggie said

was the Gerald Desmond Bridge. At the other side of the bridge,ther sedan

continued along Ocean Boulevard. I can see we are in a harbor area. She

stopped at a traffic light and turned right. We approached the gate of a

military base. A sign on the fence read,"U.S. MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE

TERMINAL ISLAND." The MP let the car through,and Maggie parked in a

parking lot.

"Get out," she said. I complied. I looked around. It was a small

base,with a dozen buildings or so. There were military vehicles parked in

the parking lot. She took me to one of the buildings,which was the

security building. First,she had be fingerprinted. Then we walked through

a hallway,passing some Marines. We then went inside a small room with a

table and two chairs. The only light in the room came from a small lamp

above.

"Sit down,Mallory," she said. "If that is who you really are. I am

going to ask you a few questions. Where were you born?"

"I am not sure," I replied. "I was never told where I was born. I know

it is on another dimension,and my parents brought me to another dimension

to grow up."

"Why did they do that?" she asked.

I explained everything. About the war between the humans and kromaggs.

My life in El Segundo. My meeting with Quinn Mallory,Maggie Beckett,and

Rembrandt Brown. I told her how the kromaggs conquered Rembrandt's home

world,the world where Quinn started his journey. I told her how I joined

them in their search for my true home world,where my father invented a

weapon that drove the kromaggs from my home world and can be used to

liberate Rembrandt's home world. About how I got separated from my friends

and my brother.

After that,she asked,"Are you a member of the Nazi Party or any Nazi

sympathizer group?"

"No," I replied.

"You will stay here," she said. And then she left.

After an hour,she went back to confront me again. "We did a background

check on you,Mister Mallory. It seems there is an actual Colin Mallory.

Staff Sergeant Colin Mallory,of the United States Marine Corps,33rd

Tactical Aircraft Wing. He is stationed in the Marine Corps Air Station in

El Toro,currently under deployment to Egypt. We checked with his

commander. He is in Egypt. So,the question is, WHO ARE YOU?"

"I told you," I said. "I am Colin Mallory. I am just from another

dimension. I was sliding-traveling through dimensions-with a duplicate of

you. and I know something about sliding. If the timer runs out and you

miss the wormhole,the timer does not work for 29.7 years."

Maggie once again left,leaving me inside the dimly-lit room.

After another hour,an MP enters the room.

"The general wants to see you," he said. So that's what I did.

The MP escorted me through the base to the office of Major General

Alexander Hunt. I looked around,seeing Marines going about doing work. I

also passed an officers club and a gymnasium. I went inside the main

building and I was led through the hallways. Soon,I was inside the office

of General Hunt. I saw a man in a Marine's uniform which I figured to be

General Hunt. He is lean,and had brown hair and a brown beard. He sat

behind an oak desk. There was a bookshelf on the side,and a soft carpet

covered the floor. 

"So,you are the interdimensional traveler,Colin Mallory," he said.

"That's right," I replied.

"We ran your prints and they match those of Sergeant Colin Mallory who

is in Egypt. Let me see your arm."

I showed him my arm.

"No bar code. We know that Sergeant Mallory has a bar code. There is no

way the Nazis can change a man's prints and face. And even they are not

stupid enough to leave out a bar code. You are Colin Mallory,although you

are not the Colin Mallory who is a Marine sergeant."

"Sir,this man knows a lot about interdimensional travel," said

Maggie,who was in the room with the general.

"Let us show him what this base is really for. Even if he is a Nazi

spy,it is too late for the Nazis to catch up to us in this endeavor."

I was escorted down an elevator to the lower level. The hallways of the

lower level had concrete floors and concrete walls,and pipes ran overhead.

We went inside a room labeled "CONTROL". Entering,I saw Quinn with some

other technicains,all wearing white lab coats. They were working on

computer terminals inside the room.

"Colin," said Quinn. "General,are you sure you should show him this."

"We won't be showing him anything that the Nazis could use," replied

General Hunt. Hunt turned towards a black woman working with Quinn.

"Doctor Davis,is everything okay?" he asked.

"Everything's fine,General," replied Davis.

"Colin,this is Dr. Diana Davis,one of the techs here," said Quinn.

"Hi," said Dr. Davis.

"I forgot to aks you," said the general. "How did you end up here?"

"Well,I was sliding with my friends," I said. "Suddenly,I collided

withn someone traveling in the opposite direction."

"You ended up here?" asked Maggie.

"No,on a different world. A wordl where the dominant language in

California is Arabic. One day,as I was sleeping,I somehow slid here."

"Maybe your friedns found you and slid you through whiole you slept."

"But I did not find them when I arrived in this dimension."

"This is interesting," said Davis. "We might have to check you out."

I looked thorugh a window into the adjoining room. I can see various

electrical equipment. I figured this was the wormhole generator.

Suddenly,I saw a team of Marines enter the room.

"We are about o explore a new world," said Quinn. He typed on a

keyboard and clicked the button on a trackball. Suddenly,all of the meters

and gauges on the electrical equipment in the control room moved. I saw

the wormhole open on the other side.

It was green in color,with a white light in the center. After it was

oppen,the Marines went through. Then the vortex closed.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"Exploring new worlds," said Maggie. "Learning about their histories.

That is what we do. We are explorers."

"They will be back in twelve hours," said Quinn.

I entered the home. It was quite small. The living room had the basic furniture-sofas and a coffee table. A Sony Trinitron television was standing next to the white plaster wall.

I took a closer look. On a small table along the wall I saw pictures. There was a wedding picture of Quinn and his wife. I also saw my duplicate's parents Michael and Elizabeth Mallory standing near Quinn, as well as Quinn's parents-in-law. Standing near the bride The date of the wedding was June 20,1995.

Quinn's wife went up to me and pulled a cigarette from a pack of Joe Camel

cigarettes.

"I don't smoke," I said. "It's bad for you."

"Maybe tobacco is,but this is marijuana," she replied. "It is perfectly

harmless. It won;t kill you. Besides,you never forsook an opportunity to

smoke a joint."

I held the joint in my hand,and Quinn's wife lit it for me. Soon ,I was puffing away on the joint. As I smoked,I noticed that my worries of

finding my friends were gradually slipping away. I have been to worlds where marijuana was sold over-the-counter,and it was great. Soon I was sitting on a reclining chair,just puffing away. I turned on the TV,and saw some talk show host on. His name was Geraldo.

I asked to see a wedding album. The wife obliged. I looked through it. I saw a picture of my duplicate, dressed in a tuxedo. I also saw that Quinn's wife is named Stephanie.

An hour later,Quinn came home. I did not notice it until he placed his hands on my shoiudlers.

"Quinn!" I shouted.

"Colin!" he shouted back. "Good to see you here,bro."

"Same to you."

"You on vacation?"

"I'll explain."

"I hope you didn't desert."

"Steph," Quinn said to his wife. He went over to her and kissed her.

"How was work,honey?" she asked.

"It was great," he replied. "I wish I could tell you what it's about." I smiled. Then for a second, I

remmebered this was NOT the Quinn Mallory I met at my adopted home world. This was not the Quinn I slid with the past year. The Quinn Mallory in this house may as well be a stranger to me.

"Colin," said Stephanie. "Would you like dinner?"

"Yes," I replied. "I would love dinner."

So that's what we did.

Stephanie served pork chops for dinner. Grilled pork chops. I dipped the pork chops into the KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce before eating them. I remembered that there were no pork chops anywhere in the last world I've been to.

"So Colin," said Quinn. "How are things going in Egypt?"

"Fine," I replied. "From what I can tell,there was no hostile activity

from Iraq." I was fortunate to read the Press-Telegram newspaper and Time

magazine.

"Still,we have to watch Saddam," said Quinn.

"I know." I looked at Stephanie. "So Stephanie,when are you due?"

"In four months," she replied.

After dinner was over,I said to Stephanie,"Quinn and I need to talk one-to-one. Brother-to-brother."

"Okay," replies Stephanie. Im went over to Quinn to talk to him.

"What?" he asked.

"It's about me," I replied. "Where I came from."

"You were born and raised in San Francisco just like me."

"No, I wasn't. I'm not from this timeline, in fact.."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, time has two dimensions. One is the future-past dimension. The other dimension is the history dimension. You see,events in each timeline proceed differently than events in neighboring

timelines."

"That is due to the uncertainty principle."

"Yes,that is it. Even with the uncertainty principle,events in one timeline affect the probability distributions of events in nearby

timelines. Ordinarily,particles are confined to one timeline. But if it can get enough energy,it can skip to another timeline."

"I am familiar with that theory. I had this professor back at the University of California who taught such things."

"The reason I am telling you this is because I am from another timeline,another world. I am not the brother you grew up with. I was born on another world. There was a war,and my parents sent me and your counterpart to grow up in different timelines. Later,your counterpart that is my brother invented a sliding machine which can allow him to visit

other timelines. He later found me,and we slid together to find our true home. But along the way,I got separated from them."

"No barcode," my brother's duplicate said.

"Bar code?" I asked.

"We have bar codes etched into our foreheads via laser when we're born," said Quinn. I could see a barcode etched into his forehead.

I went to the living room to check the wedding album. My duplicate also had a barcode etched on his forehead.

"Colin," said Quinn. "You can stay for the night."

So that's what I did.