After breakfast the next morning, the four sliders had deposited their empty trays and they left the bunker's large community cafeteria. Surrounding them were many picnic like tables with just as many people eating and were immersed in their own conversations. Thus, the cafeteria was filled with tons of loud chatter.
As they left the giant cafeteria, Wade looked up at Arturo and saw the older man bring his fist to his mouth. "Are you okay Professor," Wade asked.
Once the ungentlemanly burp he was surprising had passed, Arturo brought his fist down and clutched his stomach. He groused, "Let's just say Ms. Welles, that the food here alone is inspiration enough to get off of this world."
"I hear that Professor. Man I haven't had a cheeseburger in so long I'm havin' withdrawal symptoms," Rembrandt said seriously. At the seriousness of his expression, the others laughed hysterically. Their laughter got several got several strange looks but they didn't care.
Once their laughter died down, Wade specifically asked Quinn, "By the way, did you get your work order taped to your bunk? Remmy and I did."
"Yeah, the Professor and I are working in the lab with a group of scientists and engineers led by a man named Dr. Howard Timicin. What about you guys?"
"Wade and I are supposed to be working in the stables with a guy named of Derek Roman. But now that you brought it up, we don't know where that is."
The sliders stopped walking at that realization. But just then two men were walking by the four sliders. Wade brazenly stepped in their path and asked, "Excuse me, where can we find Derek Roman's stable and Dr. Timicin's lab? We were told to go there and start work."
Both men were quite surprised by the sudden question. As the sliders waited for the men to answer Wade's question, they observed the two men before them.
One was a fair skinned Japanese man who had spiky grey hair that was leaning to the left. He wore a navy blue uniform, a green opened vest, and opened toed tabi boots. The man also wore forehead protector that hung over his left eye and a mask that covered the lower half of his face.
The other man was Caucasian and had a friendly yet stern expression on his face. This man had short black hair, dark brown eyes, and a small scar on his left cheek. He wore a white button down shirt with rolled up sleeves, tan dress pants, and black loafers.
"Oh you all must be the new workers. I overheard your arrival from our friend Zoe," said the spiky grey haired man in a pleasant voice. "That's us. I'm Wade and these are my friends: Rembrandt, Quinn, and the Professor."
"Nice to meet you all I'm Kakashi and this is Vance Wagner."
"So who's going where?" asked Vance, getting right to the point.
"These two are going to Dr. Timicin. While Rembrandt and I are going to Derek Roman," Wade informed them.
"Got it. Look, I'll take you two to Derek and Vance here will take you two to Dr. Timicin," offered Kakashi.
"That's much appreciated Mr. Kakashi,"
~|S|L|I|D|E|R|S|~
Wade and Rembrandt had followed Kakashi through another cave tunnel and then entered into a beautiful area. The 'stable' was nothing what Wade nor Rembrandt were expecting. There were beautiful green trees. There was somehow a small opening in the mountain ceiling that allowed for the beautiful sunlight the beam through. Below their feet was a lush grass still wet from the morning dew that had fallen earlier that day. Then several yards away, the two sliders could see a man built wooden stable that had been constructed into the side of the mountain wall. Within those wooden stalls were an array of beautiful horses. Some of which, Wade and Rembrandt could recognize as the same horses that brought them and the other escapees to the compound. And to further their amazement, a small beautiful waterfall flowed to a small stream. Along the walls around the water fall were thick vines and exotic looking flora of an array of colors that sprouted through and fell along the ground.
"Beautiful, right?" said Kakashi, unintentionally startling the two sliders out of their Riviera.
The two could only nod in response which caused Kakashi to smile underneath his mask.
"Look I gotta go. I have a self-defense class to go teach. It was nice meeting you both though."
Finally snapping back to reality, Wade and Rembrandt looked at the masked mad and shook his hand. "Thanks so much Kakashi. Hopefully we can talk soon," said Wade.
"Sure. Have a good day!" Kakashi said sweetly as he left.
As Wade and Rembrandt moved furhter into the vast area a voice rang out from behind a large barrel of hay asking,
"Who's there?"
Not seeing anyone, Wade answered anyway. "Uh, my friend and I were sent here by Naomi and Zoe. I'm Wade Welles and my friend here is Rembrandt Brown."
A man came out from behind the hay barrel and came closer, the two sliders were surprised to be met with Derek Bond. His double to be precise. He still looked the same as the last time they saw him from psychic world. The only difference being that he wore a simple black shirt and grey sweat pants instead of a suit.
"Hello, I'm Derek Roman."
"Roman?"
"Yes," Derek said, unable to take his eyes off of Wade. There was something mysterious and captivating in the brunette's eyes that held Derek in awe. "I'm sorry but it's like we've met before," Derek said in amazement.
Wade smiled and thought,You have no idea.
Smiling at the smitten stable keeper, Rembrandt broke the young man's Riviera and asked, "So Derek, what do you want us to do?"
"Well you're basically be our runners. So you'll assisting me and my other hands with our jobs. Those jobs include feeding, cooling out, bathing, loading hay, and even keeping the stables tidy. The only job we won't need you for is exercising the horses. That is unless you two have powers that deal with earth and or sand."
"No we don't have any powers," answered Rembrandt.
"Again, that's great. In actuality, I'm one of only three others that can really take the horses outside for exercise because of my powers."
"What're your powers?"
"I'm, uh, much different than some of the others here. Something went wrong with my 'training' that left me with the ability to absorb matter. So when I go outside, I take a hand full of sand and absorb its material and I can transform into a sand like man. And when I go outside, I can camouflage better essentially."
"Wow. I guess that really comes in handy with this work."
"Sure does. But why don't we get you two started. Rembrandt, why don't you help me with hauling hay and Wade why don't you work on cooling down the horse I've just brought back." With that said, the three were off to work.
A couple of hours later, two figures approached them. One was Captain Beckett and the other was a chubby man of average height wearing dark shades, a long blue overcoat, a grey shirt, and black pants.
"About Face Derek and bring your new workers with you!" cried Maggie.
A few moments later, Derek came forward and was followed by Wade and Rembrandt. The two sliders were sweaty and smelled of horses, but this change was quite welcome considering they had just escaped the labor camp not too long ago.
"You summoned us Captain?" sarcastically asked Derek. The stableman was not a fan of the captain. He found her cold, demanding, and more than in love with her position and power. But the founders of the compound –Naomi, Dr. Howard Timicin, and Romo Lampkin– were in charge of everything here. They were also in charge of extending their authority to those who they, or at least two of the three, saw worthy. One of which was the man that accompanied the captain.
Romo Lampkin is a retired lawyer who had seen a lot in his life. Like many in the compound, Romo had lost a lot due to the war and tyranny that raged outside of the mountain walls. But the real tragedy for Romo occurred when his wife and two daughters were killed while he was at work. Romo's never gotten truly over the loss of his family but he does help others in their memory.
Which is what brought him to the sliders. He wanted to see their so-called 'last chance' in person.
"Hello, I'm Romo Lampkin. I heard about you lot and I thought I'd come and meet you," Romo said in a raspy British accented voice.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Rembrandt Brown and this is my friend Wade Welles."
"Pleasure. How's Derek here treating you?"
"Great! I gotta say that working here is a nice change of pace,"
"I'd hope so. Especially considering that you've all just come from a harsh labor camp. And Derek I'd like to go over somethings with you concerning your horses. When's a good time?"
"Probably not today seeing as he's babysitting today," grumbled Maggie.
"I'm sure he can answer for himself," retorted Wade.
Maggie's eyes narrowed and bore them into Wade. To which, Wade met right back, unflinching.
Romo and Derek smirked at the young female slider.
"Later this afternoon is fine Romo," responded Derek.
"Fantastic. Well on that pleasant note, I'll let you all get back to work. Let's go Captain," Romo said as he smiled a crooked smile at Rembrandt and Wade before leaving. A grumpy Maggie traveling not far behind.
~|S|L|I|D|E|R|S|~
The lab in which Arturo and Quinn were working was quite spacious and more technologically advanced then either of them anticipated. The lab was very large with multiple work stations. Many of the stations had large computers and others had large tables with tools and many bits and pieces of many timers being built and worker on. In the very back of the room was a very large machine. It was a sliding machine three times as big as the one Quinn had built in his basement. The lab was headed by Dr. Howard Timicin.
Dr. Timicin was a gentle giant of a man. He was a balding man with a warm tenor voice. He wore a large white lab coat over his grey khaki pants and red button down shirt. The man is extremely intelligent and very concise in his instructions to his team of many workers.
Along with his head assistant Harold, they were in charge of working on the sliding machine and the timers. The timers were a backup plan just in case the sliding machine didn't work and they could input Paradise Earth's coordinates. The lab was also in charge of monitoring the oncoming pulsars threatening their Earth.
"Harold, what've you got on the pulsars?" asked Dr. Timicin as he made his way over the young man working at his computer.
Due to his fierce concentration, Harold didn't respond as his fingers continued to type at such a fast rate his fingers seemed as if they were flying across the computer keyboard.
Although, Harold's face was scrunched up at the numbers and figures on his computer screen, he was a handsome Korean man. Harold has an olive colored skin tone, immaculate shiny jet black hair, and deep brown eyes. Like Dr. Timicin, he wore a white lab coat. Underneath the coat, Harold wore a dark blue vest, a blue stripped shirt, and black dress pants.
Seeing Harold's level of concentration, Dr. Timicin took no offence of not being answered. Once the large scientist reached Harold's work desk, he placed a large hand on the younger man's shoulder and asked, "How're we looking?"
Finally noticing, his friend and boss standing at his elbow, Harold leant back in his chair and scrubbed his face wearily.
"The trajectory of the pulsar is looking to hit sooner than we ever realized. Although like any pulsar, the discharge of the electromagnetic radiation is short but it will cause unimaginable devastation."
"How bad?" asked Quinn, as he looked up from his work.
"The majority of the planets in this solar system will be annihilated. And every living thing on any inhabitable planet will be dead. Specifically for earth, there's no place deep enough within our planet that will stop the radiation from going and nothing is strong enough to withstand the heat it will bring."
"How soon is this?" asked Arturo.
"That's what I'm working on right now. All I can tell you is that it's coming sooner. How soon I just don't know yet."
The occupants in the lab were all silent as the totality of the situation they were in settled on their shoulders.
As they were contemplating the situation, the glass door to the lab opened and two men came inside. The first was Jason and he was accompanied by a young colored man holding some rolled up blue prints in his hands.
"Hey Doc, Naomi wants to know what's going on with the pulsar."
"I was just about to go and find her. Come along with me. That way I don't have to explain it more than once," Dr. Timicin said as he already heading out of the door. Due to the tall scientist's long stride, Jason had to jog out of the closing glass door to catch up.
Looking at the two men's retreating backs, the young man that came in with Jason looked back at Harold. "Bad news, huh?"
Harold's body shook with a weary sigh. "Yeah Dorian. It's bad news."
"Will we be able to escape on time?"
Quinn answered the young man. "We're hoping so. We've made more than a few breakthroughs. All of which deals with expanding the band width of your devices."
"But what about the Q.E.D. machine? Will it hold everyone Mr. …umm…"
"Quinn. Just Quinn. And we're hoping that we can expand the Q.E.D.'s band width the same way. The only problem we're facing now is reinforcing the outer shell of the machine. You see, the machine would collapse and cause untold destruction to the compound if not properly reinforced. So we're waiting on the head engineer for his designs."
"Well you don't have to wait any longer. I'm Dorian LaLache and I'm the head engineer," Dorian said.
"Really?" Arturo asked with a skeptical expression. The young man before them looked to be quite young. Arturo guessed the young man to be in his late teens. Which was soon founded to be correct with Dorian's next statement.
"Yeah, I know. I know. I'm just eighteen but I understand this kind of stuff. The others here can vouch for me. And not because of my mom either. I've rebuilt more than half the stuff in this lab."
"That's awesome and it's nice to meet you Dorian. Like I said, I'm Quinn and this is Professor Arturo."
Dorian stared at the professor for a moment or two before reaching to shake the Englishman's out stretched hand.
"I beg your pardon, but did you say LaLache?" asked Arturo once they released each other's hand.
"Yeah. My birth parents died when I was ten. So my godmother Naomi adopted me. After that I took her name."
"I'm sorry to hear that about your parents. I know what it's like to lose a parent," Quinn said sympathetically.
"Thanks man," Dorian said and then he pulled out the blue prints he had been holding since he came into the lab. "But let me show you guys some things I've come up with."
~|S|L|I|D|E|R|S|~
By the end of the day, Wade and Rembrandt were accompanied to the lab by Derek. The glass door swung open catching the attention of Quinn and Dorian while Arturo and Dr. Timicin and Harold were discussing the pulsar further in hushed tones.
"Hey guys! This is Derek Roman," introduced Wade.
With the new people came into the lab, the conversation about the pulsar broke up. Arturo approached his friends and was shocked to see Derek's double. Before he could say anything though, Quinn introduced Dorian to the other sliders.
"Nice to meet you Derek. Wade, Remmy, this is Dorian. He's the head engineer for the Q.E.D."
"Nice to meet ya, young fella," Remmy said as he and Wade shook the young engineer's hand.
"Say, would you guys like to join us for dinner?" Quinn invited Dorian and Derek.
"Are you sure?" Dorian asked.
"Of course boy! At least, then could you advise us on what to eat. Breakfast was quite an experience."
"Dr. Timicin would you like to join us?" invited Wade.
"No thank you. I'm going to eat with my wife and catch up with her day."
"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow," Quinn said as they left the lab.
As the group made their way to the cafeteria, Wade and Rembrandt got caught up about Harold and Dorian. "So do you have any siblings Dorian?" inquired Wade.
"Yeah, I'm the oldest of four."
"Wow! Personally, I'm the youngest of two. I can't imagine three other siblings really," joked Wade.
"It's not that bad."
"They get on your nerves?"
"Not really no. But if you were to ask my sister Adira, she'd tell you I get on her nerves a lot!"
"Why is that?"
"Oh. Well she's big into fighting and self-defense while I'm not. Not to say that I don't fight! I just fight for others."
"And not to defend yourself…"
"I do! Just with words and not physically."
"Why don't you?"
"It's cause…well I guess it goes back to my birth parents. When I was a kid, I used to get bullied a lot and one day when I got really sick of it I asked my parents to go and stop it. Like any parent, they wanted to talk with the parents of these bullies. Next thing I know, they left me with my godmother Naomi on a Sunday afternoon while they were going by train to speak to one of the parents. But they never came back. We saw on the news that the train had an accident and crashed. More than seventy percent of the passengers had died and among the dead were my parents."
"Whoa. I'm so sorry,"
"Yeah me too."
"What were their names?" asked Rembrandt.
"Michael and Odetta Mallory," answered Dorian. At the name, the sliders perked up and looked at each other. Before any of them could truly say anything, Harold spoke up. The young astrophysicist was unaware of the sliders' shock at the moment.
"That's when Naomi adopted you isn't it?" asked Harold.
"Yep. And because of it I'm not an orphan. So I'm not complainin'. There are a lot of kids that are still suffering, ya know?"
Once Quinn recovered, he asked, "So 'Adira', she's protective of you?"
"Oh yeah! We have a similar background but completely different personalities. Well in the sense that she and I were both adopted by Mama, uh Naomi, and her husband. Their birth son Jett was three at the time and she was pregnant with Breana. You see, Adira was an orphan living in the swamps of New Orleans and she had just escaped the training facilities only a month or so before. Adira was not a trusting kid and she loved to fight."
"Did Adira's parents die as well?"
"We were told that Adira's parents left her in the valley of lost children. This valley has become popular because of the many dead children left there. In this world, if a parent has a child with a disability they go to this valley to leave the child to die; however, in Adira's case when her parents found out she was blind and left her in this valley she was actually taken in by some animals called badgermoles and these beasts raised her and taught her how to be more than functional in her blindness. But then the King's soldiers came when Adria was just four years old and took her because there was a legend of a wild child in the hills. Once they took her, the soldiers killed the badgermoles and took her to a facility that we've discovered to be in Virginia. The death of the badgermoles had always haunted Adira. Once she was in this facility, she was made into an earth bender and taught how to speak, read, and write. She told me that even though the whole situation was horrendous and torturous, she always fought back and was plotting to escape. And she did when she was six years old. She had garnered enough strength and power to escape and made it all the way back to New Orleans. Like I said before, this was when mama met Adira. Adira was actually trying to steal some food but she got caught! But because mama never judged her or made her feel different, Adira never wanted to leave her. So mama and her husband adopted her. And cause we -as the other LaLache kids- didn't judge her either, Adira began to trust us and decided to protect us from anything and everything."
The four sliders were lost for words. They were floored by the history they had just heard. They also had an immense amount of respect for Naomi by adopting these two children. But Quinn was especially lost for words because the young man before him was essentially his step-brother on this Earth. He knew that on other worlds his family could have, and has, taken an infinite number of paths. The very first slide they went to, Tundra World, was proof of this fact.
Quinn remembered the picture he had found which showed his parents, him, a sister he himself never had, and his long lost dog Popper. He felt amazed at the discovery. But at this very moment, Quinn felt a special tug within himself toward Dorian. It was no question why he felt this way either. Quinn knew it was because Dorian has shared an even greater loss of losing both parents. And he wanted to be there for Dorian. The only question that was: What can I do for him though? Quinn thought as they finally got to the community cafeteria.
~|S|L|I|D|E|R|S|~
Later that same evening, Naomi and Zoe were talking in the lawyer's office within the compound. As the two women were discussing the day's events, the door opened and in walked Romo.
"Hello ladies," greeted the former lawyer.
"Hi Romo. What brings you by this evening?" asked Naomi.
Romo had sat down on the sofa that Zoe was occupying while Naomi was seated in a chair across from the sofa. Once he sat down, he took off his sunglasses and bore his hazel eyes into the lawyer in front of him. "I met your new recruits today. Well I met two of them. Wade and Rembrandt, I believe they said their names were. I only observed the other two working in the lab. Both of those men…"
"We know," wearily said Naomi.
"So it's true then. You really made a deal with this group?"
"Yes. They're our only hope now."
"But what about your youngest? Has Breana met either of them yet? Has she met him yet? I can't imagine that going well," stated Romo.
"No, and quite frankly I hope she doesn't. The last thing she needs is to be reminded of being held captive at that horrible place."
"I would guess so darling. Being kidnapped and being told on a daily basis they were going to be eaten would scare anyone. Much less an eight year old,"
"Does she still have nightmares?" asked Zoe.
"Oh of course. She's a shadow of what she used to be. And although Jett was in the same position, he's doing much better. He's still got a long ways to go though. Honestly, the only saving grace of that situation was that we got her and her brother Jett out of there as soon as we could."
"I remember that. I never saw you lose that much control on a daily basis. I mean of course, I understood the situation you were in, two of your kids being taken! That was as much a living nightmare for you as it was for them. But Dorian kept you grounded in positivity and never let you give up. And as much as I hate to say, the success of that mission was really thanks to Sokka and Adira. Those kids of ours…they snuck into that rescue mission and helped save them and liberated several other inmates," Zoe said, as she remembered her own thoughts and feelings of that day when she found out her adopted son Sokka had snuck out with Naomi's adopted daughter Adira to assist in the supposed classified mission.
"Adira is my kind of kid. Not letting anyone or anything or even her disability stop her from saving her siblings," praised Romo.
"She would be. You're both stubborn rebels. You're practically the same person. The only difference being you're a middle aged Brit and she's a twelve year old earthbender."
Naomi smirked at Zoe's comments.
"Regardless, what're your plans for keeping Breana away from these new comers? Although this is a big place, she could still very well bump into him or at the very least hear the rumors. Her and Jett's situation is very well known here. So anything like 'evil doubles working in the lab' will rile up any of the residents. Especially once Mrs. Tweek finds out."
At the last statement, Naomi's expression changed and took a deep weary filled sigh.
She didn't know what to think really. Naomi could only hope for the best and desperately try and keep her youngest child away from the sliders.
..:TBC:..