A special thanks to my good friend Tucker07 for her help in writing this short story. Disbelief is a direct sequel to Masks, in which the professor finds his friends using a microchip he invented called the Quantum Scanner. I've been told the idea of the spectrum stabilizer being the cause of the strange worlds the sliders visit original belongs to someone by the name of Temporal Flux, so credits to them for the idea used in this story.
Thinking back on it the last few days had been some of the roughest of Quinn Mallory's life. He not only had to watch the professor's double die, taking a bullet meant for him, but shortly afterward, he landed on a world where the entire population was forcefully drugged. He himself had been subjected to such drug after he was captured by Arturo's crueler double. His last lucid thought was one of terror as he realized this psychotic duplicate knew the location of his friends.
It was enough to drive him mad, but today he felt a peace he hadn't felt since he lost the professor. Today, he sat with his friends in a calm and quiet hotel room. No outside forces were chasing after them or threatening their lives. For once he felt no unnecessary stress weighing heavily upon his tired shoulders.
Some of this peace was aided by the fact that he'd been reunited with his original professor, the one he mistakenly left behind on the world with the Azure Gate Bridge. He couldn't believe it, their professor was alive. But then again, his double had become just as much their professor as he was. He'd spent more than enough time with them, protected them, even sacrificed himself for him. While the return of the original professor may have mended some of the hurt plaguing Quinn's heart, it would never completely heal that void left by the death of another member of his family.
Quinn snapped out of his thoughts for only a moment as Arturo tossed his newspaper aside, clearing his throat in an attempt to catch everyone's attention. Wade and Rembrandt muted the television as they turned to face him, Quinn still gazing out of the window he sat beside as he sank back into his memories.
"You know," Arturo began, looking between each of them with curiosity, "I'd very much like to know what went on between the three of you and my double."
"How much do you want to know?" Wade asked, unsure where to even begin. They'd told him a few things already, but they hadn't gone in-depth or anything.
"Everything, of course," he replied immediately, his tone conveying that this answer should have been obvious, "Ever since I saw that vortex close, I worried about whether or not that scoundrel was going to hurt you. Now that everything is fine, I would like to know the details of the last nine months you four spent together."
"It wasn't anything special," Quinn replied, half paying attention to his friends as he stared out at the falling rain, watching as the streaks of water slid down the glass. Arturo narrowed his eyes at this, leaning forward as he spoke.
"Mr. Mallory, I spent the last nine months wondering if the three of you were even alive. You can at least do me the courtesy of telling me what happened while I was absent, and at least pretend that you're paying attention to me"
The last comment caught Quinn off guard, causing him to look away from the window, startled. He once again felt like a student in class. That long-ago feeling made him smile a bit on the inside, but his own thoughts of the last few days were outweighing his emotions on the matter. However, he decided to put his feelings aside for the moment as he nodded solemnly towards his mentor.
"Sorry, Professor."
"Think nothing of it, my boy," Arturo quickly said, "Now, I believe I am due for an explanation."
"Sure thing, professor," Rembrandt replied with a grin, "But something tells me you won't believe the half of it."
"Mr. Brown, the four of us have shared more than enough outlandish experiences together. I doubt there could be anything more crazy that the three of you experienced without me," Arturo replied with a hint of annoyance and impatience in his voice. Quinn shared a knowing look with Rembrandt and Wade as he heard this.
"Should we start with the world where dinosaurs never went extinct?" Wade asked with a hint of amusement, excited to hear the professor's thoughts on the wild worlds they visited.
"Good heavens! A world where the dinosaurs lived until the 20th century? That must mean the Chicxulub impactor missed the Earth. Though considering that event would have plummeted the earth's temperatures down a considerable amount, it is a wonder humans were able to evolve alongside dinosaurs at all. Unless of course there were no humans?"
"No, there were humans there. When we first arrived, we met up with this ranger lady who mistook us for a group of poachers." Wade replied. Rembrandt nodded along, leaning forward as he spoke.
"Here's another world you might find interesting, Professor. We landed on this one where San Francisco and Los Angeles were one big city," Rembrandt replied with a grin, anticipating the displeasure from the older Englishman. As he expected, Arturo's face immediately went sour.
"A union between San Francisco and Los Angeles? Why it goes against the very laws of nature!"
The three friends shared a chuckle at that, looking between each other momentarily before turning their attention back to the professor.
"For a while afterward, we ended up sliding into Los Angeles or anywhere in between. We met my female double who replaced the laser-based geographic-spectrum stabilizer in our timer with her lower quality sonics-based stabilizer, giving us a four hundred mile radius," Quinn answered quietly.
"Yes, Logan St. Clair. You mentioned her in passing," Arturo muttered in reply. "Before we transferred the upgrades from your timer to mine."
"Right, well how about that desert world with the tornadoes?" Rembrandt asked, looking at the two younger sliders. Wade nodded as she turned to Quinn.
"Yeah, that was the world where you saved that kid who was surfing one of the twisters," she said aloud, the professor's look of interest shifting into one of confusion.
"I'm sorry, perhaps I misheard. Did you say he was surfing a tornado?"
"Yeah," Wade replied, looking just as confused as he was, "I'm not sure how he was doing it either. Quinn jumped in and pulled him out."
Arturo sputtered for a moment as he registered this, looking lost as he tried to collect himself.
"Miss. Welles, a tornado is a violently rotating column of air that can have wind speeds of up to a hundred and ten miles per hour. In more extreme situations a tornado can reach wind speeds of more than three hundred miles per hour and can be more than two miles in diameter. I find it very hard to believe a child went surfing in one of these death funnels, let alone that Mr. Mallory jumped in to save them."
"Well they were electric tornados, would that make any difference?" Rembrandt asked, shrugging his shoulders. Arturo could only manage to scowl at the Cryin' Man for asking such a question, but nevertheless, he was surprised by the statement.
"Electric tornadoes?" he asked in disbelief.
"If you think that's bad I can't wait to see your reaction to the Dream Masters" Rembrandt replied with a knowing grin. Arturo leaned forward in his chair, with a hint of annoyance as he spoke. He was begging to think his friends were making up stories.
"And what are these 'Dream Masters'?" He asked curiously, his tone implying he didn't take the title seriously.
"They were a group of social outcasts who had the power to enter people's dreams. They tried to enter Wade's dreams to kill her.." Quinn informed him, keeping a straight face as the professor only looked more irritated.
"Mr. Mallory, are you aware that your elaborate little story here sounds suspiciously like the 1980's slasher film, Nightmare on Elm Street? I believe it also shares elements from the sci-fi horror film Dreamscape from around the same time. Oh and let's not forget the previous worlds you mentioned. They seem to share similarities to Jurassic Park and the more recent film Twister. Just some happy coincidence, hm?"
The other three exchanged glances, taking a moment to think about what Arturo was saying. They were beginning to think that perhaps he was right about a number of their adventures sharing similarities to some popular movies.
"So, where did you land next? Mad Max world perhaps?" Arturo asked, glaring between each of them as he cut off their internal thoughts. Wade was the first to collect herself, though he didn't expect the response offered to him.
"Actually, yeah," she replied, "We met a woman named Devin who had the psychic ability to find water. She was part of a tribe of water oracles and she was with this Cutter guy who was leading a biker gang or something."
Arturo remained silent at this, just staring at his friends without an expression. Quinn took this as a sign to skip to the next world.
"Okay, Professor, this next world isn't like any movies I can think of. Your double theorized that we might have landed on a world where physics was different from most other universes. You see, on this world the people had magic, and this sorcerer named Gareth wanted to take over my body because he believed I was part of the Mallory clan. Some kind of immortal grand wizard or something. He succeeded at first but fled after your double stabbed me. When we approached him later to save his apprentice, he transformed into a dragon and I had to use the Mallory sword to slay him and save everybody."
"Now wait just one moment, Mr. Mallory!" Arturo snapped, his face red with anger as he rose from his seat, pointing at his prized pupil with a look of agitation. He had had enough with these tall tales and was really starting to get annoyed. "while you may find these wild stories humorous to tell I would genuinely like to hear what happened between the three of you and my nefarious double!"
"Told you he wouldn't believe it," Rembrandt said with a chuckle. Arturo turned to the Cryin' Man with an incredulous look.
"So you're trying to tell me the four of you slid onto a world where a man took over Mr. Mallory's body only to later leave his body and transform into a dragon?! Next, you'll be telling me you landed on a world with talking trees!"
"Well, we did land on that world with the talking fire" Wade chimed in, causing Arturo to narrow his eyes.
"Now listen here, you three. If this is some elaborate prank then you can at least do me the courtesy of coming up with more creative stories"
"Well, I could tell you about the world with the giant worm that left behind this sludge the townspeople would eat to gain eternal youth" Rembrandt replied, grinning as Arturo gave him a knowing look.
"Another popular film reference. You think I haven't heard of Tremors, Mr. Brown?"
"To be fair, Professor, there's no eternal youth sludge in Tremors" Rembrandt replied with humor coloring his voice. This did nothing to calm the professor.
"Am I going to be able to get a straight answer out of you three or are you going to continue telling me wild stories ripping off the plots of B-list movies and using magic as a main driving force?" Arturo asked as he sat back down in his chair, making it clear that he had had enough by now.
"Well…" Quinn began, wracking his brain for a normal world to satisfy the professor. After a moment of silence, it dawned on him. "There was that world we landed on around Christmas. We spent most of our time in this giant shopping mall."
"You left out the part about how the mall was in the clouds," Wade retorted in response.
"In the clouds?" Arturo muttered, looking between each of them as he felt his anger begin to rise once more. But before he could reply, he noticed the looks on their faces. There was no hint of humor or glee. Arturo had known his friends well enough that if this were some sort of elaborate joke, they would have given up on it by now. It was at this point, that a small look of horror washed over him as he suddenly realized a darker possibility.
"You really believe this is what happened. Don't you?" He asked as the anger washed away from his voice. The other sliders were only able to nod in response, confused by his sudden shift in mood.
"Good heavens," he muttered, now looking between each of them with evident concern, "my double must have drugged the three of you. There's no other plausible explanation."
Quinn's eyes widened as he heard this, realizing what the professor concluded. He tried to wave him off, but the professor didn't give him the chance.
"Wait, Professor, we weren't-"
"And even worse, you were drugged on the last world, Mr. Mallory. Again by one of my nefarious doubles. Who knows what kind of side effects the two drugs intermixing may present. Not to mention the potential long-term side effects of the first drug regardless."
"Professor, that's not-" Quinn attempted again, only to be cut off by Arturo's worried rambling.
"Furthermore I have no way to know how long these drugs were forced upon you. When did these delusions first start? Was it immediately after you left?"
"They're not delusions, professor," Quinn could only manage to quietly sigh in response, as he tried to reason with his mentor.
"Yeah, I have trouble believing your double would drug us, only to sacrifice himself for Quinn later on" Wade argued, trying to both convince the professor and protect her late friend.
"While he did end up saving Mr. Mallory's life, are we not forgetting that this whole thing started with him trying to steal the credit for sliding in the first place?" Arturo asked.
"He didn't drug us, Professor. I know it's hard to believe, but we really landed on all these worlds," Quinn began, looking lost in thought for a moment, "I think it has something to do with Logan's stabilizer. It must have caused the timer to veer into a different segment of the multidimensional axis. These universes likely exist where the laws of physics are different from our own, which is why each world had such unbelievable events happen in them. Your timer has a similar stabilizer to our original, so we've veered back into our original multidimensional axis"
"You might be onto something, Mr. Mallory. The worlds you mentioned before San Angeles were very much rooted in reality. Even that nefarious dinosaur world, believe it or not." Arturo replied.
"So you believe us now?" Wade asked.
"Well, I am more than glad to know that you weren't drugged, at least" the older Englishman replied, looking relieved. This caused another large grin to spread across Rembrandt's face.
"Great, then let me tell you about the world where I got pregnant,"
"You did what?" Arturo asked in incredulous disbelief. The other three sliders could only chuckle in response.