Sliding Into Antar
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An Unexpected Turn
Chapter 32
XXXII
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Shocked gasps were heard, as everyone stared at the spot where Michael had stood only a moment before. But Michael was no longer there. Where he had been, there was nothing but a huge hole in the air… a sort of vortex, surrounded by a hazy aura of swirling mist and eerie light. The first thought in everyone's mind was that it looked like a scene out of some post-holocaust movie…
"Omigod!" Maria exclaimed, "You vaporized him!"
"I… I don't think it was anything Iz and Alex did," Liz whispered shakily, putting her arm around her best friend. "That looks like the vortex those four guys came through before… the ones that called themselves sliders."
Maria nodded but stood there, transfixed, half in shock, her eyes wide, yet unable to look away from the swirling vortex. Then the vortex suddenly widened unexpectedly and something tumbled out…
"Michael!" Maria exclaimed, rushing to his side. Rolling quickly back onto his feet, Michael grabbed Maria and leapt to one side with her just as another person fell out of the vortex… followed by four more.
"Whooooooooooooooo, Lordy! Oh, MAN!" the first guy out howled, hopping around and fanning a smoldering scorched area on the seat of his pants. "We must have swiped a meteor when we slid this time, Cue Ball! My butt's on fire!"
"You are not alone, Mister Brown," said an older man, Professor Maximillian Arturo, in a stodgy, vaguely British accent, as he briskly attempted to put out a small fire that was still burning on his own right pants leg.
Liz and Tess both gasped, and Tess covered her mouth with both hands then began to laugh.
"I fail to see what is so amusing about our situation, Miss… Tess, wasn't it?"
Tess nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh… honest, Professor."
Liz stepped forward and smiled at the unexpected arrivals… "I think Isabel and Alex's blasts must have gone through your vortex."
"Good Gawd," the older man said in his stodgy accent, finally putting out the last smoldering embers of his now-shorter right pants leg… "If we wore out our welcome the last time we were here, you might have said so, quite simply. It strikes me as a bit hostile to set us on fire!"
"I'm so sorry," Isabel said, removing her own hands from her mouth and trying to speak. "We meant it for Michael, not you. Honest, we never expected…! We're so sorry!"
"That goes for me, too," Alex said abashedly, "Like Isabel said, it was intended for Michael."
Quinn Mallory turned to Michael and grinned… "Wow! You must have really pissed them off, Michael!"
Michael shrugged… "They're thin skinned."
"Remind me not to get you mad at me," Rembrandt Brown said, smiling at Isabel and Alex.
"I'm sorry," Isabel said apologetically, putting her arms around Remmy then around each of the others in turn. "You're all welcome here. We would never blast you guys, I promise." She turned and glared at Michael… "Michael, on the other hand…"
"Michael, old pal," Rembrandt said, pulling him aside, "If you need advice on dealing with the ladies…"
"Isabel?" Michael chuckled, obviously amused. "She's like my sister."
"All the same," Remmy said, "You may need some help… I'm only guessing that, of course… speaking from the seat of my pants."
"I'll remember the offer," Michael said… "You have a new companion?"
Rembrandt smiled… "Yeah, hey everybody, this is Maggie! Maggie Beckett! She joined us a little while back."
"Welcome to the New Granolith," Liz said, smiling at the new girl and noticing that she never seemed to stray far from Quinn. Liz filed it in her mind as a curiosity… one that was probably better not mentioned until she knew more. Max and Liz finished welcoming each of the visitors to the ship, and the others all crowded around wanting to ask questions.
"How did you wind up here again?" Alex asked.
"That is the question we would all like an answer to," the professor said, turning to look at Quinn.
"I think we took an unexpected turn," Wade said… Then she glanced at Maggie, who now had her arm entwined in Quinn's, and added, "Not the first one…"
Liz nodded, knowing for sure now that Maggie and Quinn were not a subject to be mentioned… unless Wade brought it up first.
"Well, guys," Max said, smiling, "Your timing is impeccable. Dinner is in about one hour. That just gives you time to rest up a bit and get cleaned up… and, uh… we might be able to get some of you a new pair of pants… or something. The onboard droids do excellent work… and they're fast. They can make new pants for you that will precisely match the ones you have on now… only without the scorches, of course."
Remmy suddenly looked at Kyle then back at Max again… "Hey, Max! You wouldn't be able to get me a pair of those harem pants would you… you know, like the ones you and Kyle were wearing the last time we dropped in?"
Max stared at Remmy for a moment then nodded, his face reddening noticeably, "I could probably arrange it."
"All right! Out-o-sight! Thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Rembrandt!"
"It's cool, man. You don't need to be modest."
"I'm not. That was a royal order," Max said, smiling.
"Max and Kyle never expected anyone outside of our own crew to see that," Liz whispered to Wade, "They'll never live it down knowing that you guys saw it, too."
Wade smiled.
"Well, I have a question… before you guys go to clean up and all…" Michael said, "How did I wind up inside that vortex thing of yours?"
Quinn laughed. "It was a fluke really. When the vortex first opens on the other end… your end, in this case… just for a brief moment, it sucks in a lot of air, like a huge vacuum hose, before the direction reverses and we slide through. I guess you were standing right where it opened up and just got sucked in in that first moment. We've never had a person get sucked in on the other end before… sometimes rocks, sticks, trash, smaller things. It had to happen sooner or later."
Michael nodded… "Yeah, I remember the last time you guys popped in… all the air got sucked out of the room, just for a second, when the vortex first appeared, then the air returned to normal and you guys fell out."
Quinn nodded.
"May I ask a question, too?" Varec inquired cautiously.
Quinn nodded… "Sure."
"Why did you slide again?"
Quinn took a deep breath and slowly blew it back out. "It's a long story, Varec. The short version is that it turned out that it wasn't our earth. We all thought it was at first. Almost everything was perfect, just like we remembered it, but it turned out that not everything was exactly right."
Varec looked stunned, almost as though his life's work had just been disproved. He stood there for a moment but then shook his head… "It was the earth that you left from the first time, Quinn. I am certain of that. There could not have been a mistake."
Quinn smiled sympathetically. "Everybody makes mistakes, Varec… even I do, as hard as that is to believe. Don't worry about it. You did your best, and we appreciate it. Really! You tried. What more could we ask?"
"Not to get sent to the wrong earth, maybe," Varec replied, torn between being crushed, on the one hand, and being certain that Quinn was wrong, on the other.
"Besides," Quinn said, "Don't forget that if you hadn't recalibrated my timer, our next slide would have been into deep space… remember? You saved all our lives. I think going to the wrong earth was a very acceptable alternative, under the circumstances."
Varec shook his head. Nothing would ease the vague uneasy feeling of failure, of miscalculation, that played in his mind. He still could not accept it…
"May I see the timer again, Quinn?"
Quinn hesitated, but then he nodded, recalling that Varec had shown an amazing expertise with it before.
"I guess so… Why don't we wait until after dinner, and both of us can look at it together. It's kind of like my baby… I don't like to let it out of my sight."
"I remember," Varec said, "Okay… after dinner… together… we look at your timer. We will find out what happened."
Quinn smiled.
Liz and Maria watched, as Jim led Quinn and the others out of the observatory to show them each to temporary rooms. Maggie Beckett was still hanging onto Quinn's arm. Wade brought up the rear, her eyes glued on Quinn and Maggie from behind, and Liz had the vaguest, uneasy "feeling" that she was watching Maggie's back burst into flames, but no one else seemed to notice… except possibly Maria.
Liz looked at Maria and raised her eyebrows, and Maria nodded and smiled…
"This could be interesting."
End of Chapter 32
tbc…