Sliding Into Antar

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Earth Prime

Chapter 42

XLII

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Jeff watched as Jung-Jo trotted into the palace lounge then out the other side, disappearing down the long royal hallway, followed closely by a string of children… and Nancy.

"She's in Heaven, Max… or her second childhood one."

"Well, I guess she's entitled. She has four grandchildren she never saw before and didn't even know existed until six hours ago."

Jeff nodded. "Triplets… that was a shock."

"It kind of was for us, too," Max said with a grin. "Alexina, Claudie, and Bria. Then Jeffrey came along a little over two years later. We've got a full house."

"And we've got an empty one… with Liz gone. You may have opened a Pandora's Box with that sphere of yours. Nancy will be on your doorstep every day now."

"She'll be pretty wet then. We're underwater."

Jeff laughed. "Yeah… That's another thing… I know you said the palace and everything on your planet was underwater, but I never really expected something this… sophisticated."

"Aw, shucks, Mr. Parker. You didn't think a good old Roswell alien boy like me had it in him?" Max asked, doing the best Andy Griffith impression he could muster.

"You know what I mean, Max… and for the record, it took me a good while to come to terms with that… your past and all, I mean. But this whole complex is huge and… and… well, sophisticated. I forget that I'm underwater at all in here. And your transportation system is amazing. Everything seems to work so well here. You've really made a place for yourself… and for Liz… and for the children."

Max smiled. "Well, I can't take responsibility, really, for the complex. The original one was built a hundred thousand years ago. It's been refurbished many times over the years and was rebuilt completely twenty-seven times, or roughly every 3,500 years. The last time was about four hundred years ago."

"That's some pretty outstanding lasting power. What do they build these city domes out of? It can't be steel and glass!"

Max shook his head. "Steel would rust in a short time… and glass is too fragile, even in its strongest forms. The domes… and all of the structures in them… are composed of a polymer made from the nacre-like secretions of three different Antarian mollusks. In a sense, our domes are huge, clear clam shells and our cities are reefs."

"Well, that explains why they're so durable and appropriate for the environment. But don't you have a problem finding enough clams… or whatever the mollusks are that you get building materiel from?"

"We don't harm them, we farm them… the way some pearl cultivators grow pearls in oysters. There are huge farms of two of the mollusks we use outside of Aluzia. The other is not far from Grelligo. These farms harvest copious amounts of the nacreous substance from the mollusks, with no harm to the mollusks. We keep the substance in solution until we're ready to shape it into a dome or a wall or whatever. Once it's shaped, it's allowed to harden. The original cities were made using nacre from only one species of mollusk, known here as the xerat. It looks a lot like a giant clam but grows to be about fourteen feet wide. The xerat's nacre hardens into a sort of mother-of-pearl, which is what nacre is. The original inhabitants polished it until it was thin enough to see through in places. That original dome was still functional and solid when it was replaced with a bigger dome 3,000 years later. None of the domes has ever worn out or broken. They're only replaced to make them larger, to accommodate something new, like the slider tubes, or because we've upgraded the product, as we did when we combined the xerat's nacre with the nacre of the kopro and the axlyy. Kopros look like huge, hundred-pound queen conchs, and axlyys… really can't be described. The axlyy's nacre is the clearest substance known on Antar. It needs no polishing and can remain equally thick at all its points. The unique polymer obtained by combining the three substances is also virtually indestructible. It practically lives and breathes. It just doesn't deteriorate. Our biggest problem is getting rid of the old domes when we want to replace them."

"Well, if this one's only four hundred years old, you won't have to do that for, what? Another 3,100 years, give or take?"

Max nodded. "Or whenever someone decides that something should be upgraded or expanded. It could be ten years from now or ten thousand years from now. Either way, this dome will still look just like it does now when it's finally replaced."

"Amazing."

Jeff and Max watched the children chase Jung-Jo through the lounge again. Nancy was still with them; if she was tiring yet, she wasn't showing it.

"I'm really surprised that your double agreed to leave his pet behind when they left."

Max nodded. "He caved in to the kids. But we won't get to keep Jung-Jo. They're sending the portal for him before they jump to the other dimension."

"How are you going to coax that thing into the portal?"

"I have a feeling we won't have to, but we'll solve that problem when we come to it."

As Max spoke, three of the children ran up to him.

"Did you guys get tired of playing with Jung-Jo?"

Alexina sniffed and looked at Max with sad eyes. "Jung-Jo disappeared. The portal came, and he went in it."

"Well, that answers that," Jeff said.

"Aw, Honey…" Max picked his ten-year-old daughter up… "Jung-Jo had to go back home. He has a family to return to, too. I know he'll miss you guys, though."

"Daddy," Claudie said, as an idea seemed to pop into her ever-scheming little head, "Couldn't we use the portal and go to a dry Antar and get our own pet pawgor?"

"It wouldn't be Jung-Jo," Alexina said emphatically.

Max nodded. "I'm afraid Alex is right. Jung-Jo is sort of special… I've been told. Pawgors aren't usually friendly like Jung-Jo was. They're dangerous. Jung-Jo is the first one ever tamed. They saved him when he was a baby, and raised him."

"We could save a baby pawgor, Daddy," Bria said, "And bring it back."

Max smiled. "It wouldn't work like with Jung-Jo, Bri. He's just one of a kind."

Bria nodded. "I know, but I miss him."

The girls looked upward, then all the other children looked upward, too, as Nancy stood behind them, her arms around as many of them as she could reach around.

"Goodbye, Jung-Jo! Don't forget us!" eight-year-old Jeffrey said.

"I can guarantee you that Jung-Jo will never forget you," Nancy said, "He had a great time."

The children smiled and turned to Nancy… "You're it!" Bria said, tapping her grandmother on the arm and running. Instantly, the other children scattered, too, disappearing in all directions. Nancy took a deep breath and breathed it out slowly. "I know I'm going to feel this tomorrow… but what the hey… You only live once!"

Jeff looked at Max and chuckled, as Nancy rushed off after the children.

"Fame is fleeting… even for a pawgor."

Max nodded. "But the warm place in their hearts will never forget him."

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Onboard the New Granolith, the air shimmered and Jung-Jo stepped through onto the ship's bridge.

"Our crew is complete," Max said, turning to Varec then to Michael, who was at the controls in the co-pilot's seat. "Take it away, Sulu."

"Yes, Captain," Michael replied, passing his hand over the preset control. As he did, a beam leapt out in front of the ship, and an immense tunnel-like vortex appeared in front of them. Max turned and looked at Quinn…

"Impressed?"

Quinn nodded. "Very!"

"Take us in, Michael. Everyone hold on."

Michael aimed the ship at the mouth of the vortex and took it over the rim. Suddenly, the ship was grabbed by something within the vortex and pulled in at the speed of light. Then the vortex was gone.

A moment later, the New Granolith shot out of the vortex on the other end, and Max looked out the bridge window and smiled. "There it is… Earth… your Earth… straight ahead."

The five Sliders gathered in front of the window to look. They were probably about twice as far out as the moon, a mere hop for the New Granolith. Michael pushed the ship forward at approach speed, and five minutes later, they passed the moon. Then he slowed the ship to final approach speed. Twelve minutes later, they soared into earth's atmosphere, fully cloaked, and made their way across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. As they approached Quinn's house, Michael took the ship down to two hundred feet.

"You're all staying for the wedding, aren't you?" Quinn asked, putting his arm around a smiling Maggie Beckett, "Maggie and I plan to be wed three days from today. We need long enough to prepare and to get my family together, but we knew that you guys wouldn't be able to stay any longer than that. Maggie and I would really like for you to be there."

Max looked at Michael and the others. Everyone shrugged then nodded and smiled. He noticed that Wade smiled, too; but it was only her lips, not her eyes that were smiling.

"If we all have to be off of the ship at the same time, we will not be able to leave it parked here. There's too much air traffic," said Varec, "So I created a remote control for the ship. We can send it into space and put it in a safe orbit. When it's needed, I'll be able to recall it." Varec handed Max and Michael separate controls, like the one in his own hand, a small, flip-cover device that looked like and was about the size of a matchbook.

"What's this," Max asked.

"Redundancy… in case we lose one of the remotes or something happens to it… each one of us has one. Any of us can call the ship back."

"What if someone else found the remote… or stole it," Michael asked.

"The devices are coded to the DNA on file for the three of us. Any of the three of us will be able to operate any of the three remote controls, but no one else can."

"Good thinking."

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The day of the wedding found everyone up early. Professor Arturo taught his morning classes then headed to his favorite barber shop for a much-needed touching up of his hair and beard, but he had to ask the shop keeper to pull the shades. It seemed that everywhere the Sliders went now they were followed by news teams and paparazzi. They had, in only three days, become celebrities. Everybody wanted to know everything there was to know about them… about their adventures… and about the amazing vortex. Max and the rest of the crew of the New Granolith tried to keep low profiles; and for the most part, they had more or less succeeded… only because the cameras had plenty of other targets of opportunity at the moment, and because most people assumed that they were from Maggie's world, which had been destroyed by a supernova. So they assumed that, like Maggie, these new arrivals would still be around to talk to for awhile.

But far from San Francisco, one person sat in darkness, watching the news tape he had recorded earlier. He saw Quinn and his companions, but he was more interested in the shy group shunning the cameras. He paused the tape again and leaned in close to the screen… "I knew they'd turn up again someday. So it begins."

Daniel Pierce stood up and took out his cell phone, as he closed his office door and locked it…

"Andy? Yeah, Dan here. Have you been watching? Yeah, it's him… the 'king' himself… and his whole entourage… the ones that gave us the slip down in Roswell before we could get our team together. It looks like they've finally returned… and they brought an advance invasion force back with them… those kids pretending to have accidentally discovered parallel worlds. Get the guys together. We're going to a wedding."

The morning passed peacefully in San Francisco, as everyone prepared for Quinn and Maggie's wedding. Alex had resigned himself to the apparent fact that Quinn would not be marrying Wade, in spite of his lingering certainty that Quinn and Wade loved each other and that Maggie wasn't right for him. But he had done all he could. Now he had to accept that their lives were in their hands… maybe…

Four o'clock came, and the guests gathered in the garden outside a small chapel not far from where Quinn and Wade lived. Because of the wedding couple's celebrity status, great effort had been taken to assure the wedding group as much privacy as possible from the media and from curious prying eyes, though quite a few people were allowed in as guests and as guests of the guests. The street leading to the chapel was closed off, and a police cruiser was stationed at the end to enforce it.

By 4:15, all the invited guests were present and seated, and the wedding began, with Liz, Maria, Isabel, and Tess acting as bridesmaids, and Remmy, Michael, and Max acting as ushers, and Professor Arturo as best man. Wade had been asked to be maid of honor but had declined.

"…We are gathered here today to…" the preacher began.

Wade closed her eyes, as something tugged at her heart, like a memory that just wouldn't come out and yet wouldn't go away…

"Quinn, Let's get married… right here… right now."

She put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes.

"He's mine!" Maggie objected, pulling Quinn back by the other arm, "He loves me!"

"He loves me more," Wade heard herself say, and she saw herself pulling Quinn the other way again.

"If anyone knows any reason why…" the preacher continued…

Maggie looked at Quinn and grinned.

Wade looked up at the sky for a moment in an effort to remove the unwanted flashes from her mind; and as she did, the silence was broken…

"NO! STOP!"

The words had a terminal effect, like a record being scratched by someone suddenly pushing the needle across it. The "music" came to a quick and sudden end, and everyone turned to see who had spoken the fateful words…

"This marriage cannot proceed…"

End of Chapter 42

tbc…