The two trucks thumped to the ground relatively softly, the passengers suffering no ill effects as they headed out an alley into the morning of a relatively normal Ventura, California. Doyle drove the lead vehicle into the open and active highway convenience store, paying for a newspaper in change and finding out it was November 1997 and things were normal. They purchased a tourist map of California, as well as a real road atlas just to make sure. No Sunnydale in this place either, but the coordinates were familiar to Rembrandt when he checked the timer again.
"Hey Cue-Ball, look at these coordinates and tell me why they're familiar?" the singer called over to his friend, waving at the other Sliders to join him. Quinn's eyes widened and he raced over to a pay phone and dialed a number. The group gathered as they listened to their friend's side of the conversation.
"Um, this is Quinn?" the young man spoke into the receiver.
"Uh huh, and yes, I was with a young woman at the hospital, she couldn't breathe." The person on the other side of the conversation said something that caused Quinn to sigh.
"I thought I was only going to be gone for an hour, I'm sorry." He then quickly gave highlights of his pre-Slide life, feeding in more coins, "Have any other…Quinns visited since I left? No? I think I'm home mom, but the others'll have to call their families and friends just to make sure. I'll call back in an hour to let you know one way or the other…okay, we'll probably come up to visit anyway. Bye."
"Guys, make your calls, I think we're home…"
They'd chosen to drive the distance in a bus rental, stowing their cargo aboard. Quinn had suggested this after Xander used a laptop to download movie and television material, sports almanacs and such from the Internet that the Sliders could go over just to be sure. The trip was uneventful, the Sliders happy to be nearing an end to their journey, the Sunnydalers sad that their new friends might be leaving them so soon, but happy for them. Xander took Joyce and Doyle aside for some planning while the girls slept or talked up near the front of the bus.
"I think we should keep the girls from sliding, Xander," Joyce suggested, "I know they're not fragile, but after that disaster world and without the other four, It wouldn't hurt to have them out of harm's way."
"Well, I know we talked about a base before, and maybe dividing the group to check, so I guess it's a good plan," Xander agreed, "Plus, they'll be able to work on their other skills, and work with the Capricans and SGC. Will you stay with them, or go with us?"
"I'll probably have to stay and keep Dawn out of trouble, Xander," Joyce smirked, "She may be wonder-girl now, but she's still Dawnie."
"Sounds like a plan, then," Doyle agreed, "Xander and I will scout ahead, then report back."
The Sliders reunion was a happy one, it turning out that it was indeed their home, though Quinn's mom had dropped a bombshell by revealing his true heritage to him. He'd taken a few long minutes to think, but couldn't fault her for loving him. The others made him promise to stick around a couple months then maybe head out to find his brother and others. The Sunnydalers told him that if he waited until after they reestablished contact with their own home, they might be able to help out too.
Xander and Doyle had both surreptitiously managed to get a hold of nearly a hundred thousand dollars in Hammer-line money, and comparing it to theirs and that from alternaties recently visited determined that it matched most of the others. Joyce snickered, and came forward with ten thousand of her own, so they bought a moving truck to replace the two old pick ups. Having seen the leanness of the Hammer world, camping and survival equipment, food, supplies and comforts for two months were packed away. They bought a series of aerial photos of where their Sunnydale should be, and the surrounding areas to get a better perspective on where best to slide and expect a relatively untraveled road. Xander and Doyle drove down the coast a little ways from San Francisco itself, pulling into a park established for the last seventy years, and with device aiming better than that of the Sliders…
…found themselves in the last world for which they'd selected coordinates before heading back to SGC-Caprica.
The road was narrower and unmaintained, but looked like with slow driving they'd suffer no il effects. The park was part of encroached wilderness, and there wasn't the least bit of pollution in the air. Xander pulled out a Geiger counter and couldn't pick up any residual radiation, so he radioed to Doyle in the other truck that they'd slowly head for San Francisco.
They topped a hill and looked at the city, abandoned for some time and without an easily recognizable skyline. In fact, it didn't look like anything in the way of a real skyscraper existed on the peninsula, and the ocean showed no ship or boat presence. They tuned their radios in to find nothing being transmitted in their range. They crept further with their vehicles until they were starting to pass vehicles. Xander, with Uncle Rory as a role model of sorts, instantly was able to identify many vehicles, however worn and rusted, from the thirties and forties, and he was barely able to keep on the road once when Willow squealed at the sight of skeletons in an old car accident.
They turned into the city, when a group of six 'rural-looking' young men in their teens and twenties, and one in his early forties, stepped out to make their presence known. The men wore a combination of regular clothing and buckskins, carried modern-enough knives but homemade bows. Xander decided to pull over on the opposite side of the road and alight from the vehicle. He asked Doyle and Joyce to cover him while he greeted the locals on his own.
"Hello," he greeted as he with open hands stopped about ten feet from the older local, "I'm Xander Harris, I hope we're not intruding?"
"Are you an…American?" the man returned in blurred but understandable English.
"Would it be considered a bad thing?" Xander responded, "We mean no harm."
"It would be…a good thing," the man replied, "And we would take you to see Ish and Ezra, the last two Americans of our Tribe." The man paused, then asked, "And you could show us how you make those things move?"
"Well, the main thing is if there are any of the tires…the round black things…that you can use…but yes, we could," Xander replied, then gestured at the broken pavement, "Is there a road to where your…Tribe…is located?" The men conferred for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Xander, I am Jack, and if you follow us, it will take us one part in…six…of the daylight to reach our place."
A cul-de-sac of homes proved to be the center of the 'village' of the Tribe, the engines of the vehicles drawing the attention of maybe a couple hundred bronzed 'anglos.' When the girls got out of the second truck much of the tension in the locals disappeared, as a raiding party wouldn't bring young women into the middle of an enemy. The Elders began to gather as Xander was escorted to a rise where two old men sat looking out over the Bay Area.
"Ish of the Hammer…Ezra of the Lessons…" Jack began nervously, "We brought these…Americans to see you." The two old men didn't respond for a moment, but then their eyes cleared as they recognized younger people in manufactured clothing and accoutrements.
'You are young…Americans?" the old man addressed as Ish asked in a quiet but firm enough voice, "Is there and America again? I thought it had died with the rest of the world."
"We're not exactly from this Earth, sir," Xander conceded, "We're from an Earth that didn't suffer whatever the disaster was that ended the world here."
"Other Earth?"
"Yeah, if this world and its history were one page of a book, and the next page changed the story part-way through…"
"Hmm, I actually understand…so why are you here? To conquer?"
"Huh? No we're not, we're explorers and not soldiers."
"Can you help our kids reclaim their heritage?"
"Do they want it?"
"The world died of plague back in '48, young man, and twenty years later we knew of villages in Los Angeles and near Albuquerque. The Tribe is still healthy…but if their grandchildren keep marrying cousins…"
"Ah, so what would you want to see happen?"
I want them to get a better deal than the Indians got, I want their children to go to school, and to own the rights to the lands of Northern California, or half-way to the next community you find."
"Will they agree? I won't force anything on them."
"Jack? Call he Elders and bring them here if they're not, this is important, this is the survival of the Tribe."
"They are here, Ish of the Hammer, what is your wisdom?"
"We joined the First Ones and the Others into the Tribe once, so that the Tribe would live, we know what happens to babies of those too close in blood. The Americans can make sure most of our mothers and babies survive the births, that the children will be healthy and strong. It is time to do something difficult for you, but you are brave. You do not realize it, but it is time for you to be Americans. Your children must be able to know the wisdom of those who came before you, be able to make the stories, not just tell of things that happened before the First Ones and Others came together. It will be hard, but I entrust…my hammer to this young man…this American. He has my trust."
"And mine…" Ezra added, looking frailly at the young man from an Earth that didn't suffer the plague. The Elders, especially the women, took to heart the reference to in-breeding and childbirth talk, as it was very slowly starting to become a concern again. They looked at the two Old Ones, and the women nodded at the men. The Elders nodded to Jack.
"It is done," Jack told Xander, "We will honor your advice."
"Uh, well, I hadn't really planned on this happening," Xander replied in some confusion, "But I'll barter with those who can help you and your people."
"That will be all we can expect of you…Xander of the Hammer," the old man known as Ish smiled, "And I for one wish to see how the world would have turned out differently."
Xander finished explaining things to his group, Joyce chuckling.
"What is it with you and strays?" she joked, "At least a few hundred is a better number than seventy million this time."
"And look at it this way, Xander?" Doyle remarked, "They have the gold reserves of Fort Knox to pay for things, if nothing else there's still an old mint around here somewhere isn't there?" Xander looked at Doyle.
"You're right, there's a whole 1948 world that if anything survived it would be more than enough to pay the way of these folks, and then there's the oil and other resources no one's using…I feel like the Indians told me to go find that Columbus guy and cut a deal before the conquistadores show up?"
"I think that's what that Ish guy was doin' Xander?" Doyle replied quietly, "And even if you don't get the best deal for them, you'll still make sure that even when they're absorbed by a United States, they'll at least have something to show for it."
"So where do we start?" Joyce asked, frowning slightly in concentration.
"Why don't we drive into town and start with the mint and downtown area, see what's still around?" Xander suggested, "And if we can at least start up a trust fund and set aside lands, then the SGC folks and Colonies can do whatever they want within reason with the rest of the region, and maybe the world…"
"How about a percentage?" Willow suggested, "Say five percent on everything that goes between dimensions, and only allow certain places for transit?"
"A-And land leases f-or only twenty years before it goes back to the Trust," Tara suggested, "Or like o-one of those Alaska Native corporations. O-or hire lawyers to collect a tenth of the Tribe's share, so they'll fight harder for the Tribe."
"Wow, Tara!" Dawn enthused, "I think you solved it. Do we get a percentage since Xander is now Xander of the Hammer?"
"I do not understand," Jack spoke from where he'd quietly listened, "But you are also Tribe, now, so you share as we share, With you six, we now number…" he thought about it… "twelve plus three tens of hands and all are equal…we decided this a few minutes after you gathered yourselves here to talk of your matters. You share equally with us, and this we believe is fair, as you, Xander, should know."
Alexander took this in and walked away from the group for a few minutes, finding himself near the man that had given him the hammer and a lot of responsibility. The man looked up at Xander, and looked out at the hills.
"I've thought this before," Ish said, "And I find with you helping my… children to not lose themselves forever, that brings me comfort: They will commit me to the earth, yet also I commit them to the earth. There is nothing else by which men live. Men come and go but Earth abides."
"Hmm, there's something to be said for that," Alexander replied thoughtfully, "but I think I'll stay more optimistic for now. You know after I settle things for them I'll continue on my journey, don't you?"
"Yes, but by then they'll at least be on their way to…something beyond this fall. They'll have choices. For that you'll have our thanks."
Author's Note and Disclaimer: I decided on this obscure yet quite good 1948 George Stewart book that Carl Sandburg reviewed as most worth reading, Earth Abides.