Every eye in the police station, coming from convict and cop alike, gawked at the little procession of people that filed out of interrogation room 109. The President led a motley crew, which contained the three Sliders, down the hallway of the police station. A rough looking vagrant, which was handcuffed and being led by an officer, stopped and brushed President's Chavez's arm.
"Say prez', when you gonna start enforcing that prison reform you was talkin bout, when you ran for election?" asked the vagrant, whose breath smelled of stale alcohol."
The President stopped, looked at the man and put a hand on his shoulder "Tell me something, what are you in for pal?" he asks as he looks to the officer who was leading the man.
"He was brought in for mugging and old woman." said the officer.
"Tell you what, you give back was you stole from that old lady, and I'll think about it, huh." says the President as he smiles and continues to walk down the hallway led by the others.
The Professor grins in elation "Oh think about it Miss Chavez, we are going to be guests of the President himself. What an exuberant thought, aye!"
Maria just returns a look of worry "Indeed Max, however I am worried about Jason and how he's handling all this."
"You needn't worry about the Colonel, he's a rock. It takes a strong resolve to adjust to the marvels of Sliding. The Colonel seems to be acclimating himself quite well indeed." says Arturo rubbing his hands together, still savoring the thought of visiting the White House.
When the small band reaches the front of the station, Peterson hands the President a pair sunglasses "Here Sir, you better put these on." he says and turns to point to Jason "…and you, keep your head down with no sudden noises. The less attention we attract the better."
Jason smirks in sarcasm "Yes sir, General sir!"
Peterson whips his head around in response to the comment and grabs Jason by the collar "Look, this is not a game! The security of the entire United States government is at stake here!"
Jason slaps off Peterson's hand and in turn grabs the young black man's collar and forces him against the wall "Look pal, I don't give a damn who you are, you keep your hands off me, is that understood!"
"Alright enough of this childish rubbish, I thought the goal was to keep a low profile." says the Professor as he breaks up the little squabble.
President Chavez looks at his younger self and smiles "You really are me, aren't you."
Jason just gives his double and knowing stare and straightens himself out before walking ahead of the party. The President smiles in reaction and grabs Peterson's arm as he begins to walk in unison.
"Look Peterson, cool the hardened agent motif huh, I mean it is me…and me, your dealing with here." says the President in a sly yet wise tone.
Maria looks upward, her eyes locked in a worried expression "Why do I have the feeling this is not going to be a smooth ride?"
Just before the party of five reach the front entrance of the police station, another officer walks past leading a woman whose attire resembles that of a gypsy in handcuffs. As they walk past, the gypsy woman lightly grabs the President's arm and looks up at him. Her features worn by time, nevertheless ominous and solemn.
"Beware of the fullness of the double moon, for it will signal times of peril for you and your identical." says the gypsy woman.
The President just looks at her with wariness in his eyes as the officer escorting her, yanks her away "Alright now, enough of that! Sorry about that sir, just some fortune teller we hauled in."
The Professor steps forward with a quizzical and probing expression as he looks on, seeing the fortune teller hauled away "I believe I know that woman. Yes indeed, my companions and I once landed on a world steeped in mysticism and the occult, I distinctly remember that woman's face. How odd it seemed she was some sort of seer there as well, she did a reading for Miss Wells. I seem to recall her observations were quite accurate to say the least.
"Well it seems her double in this universe follows a similar vocation." adds Maria as Arturo continues to look on.
"I wonder…" says Arturo.
"What the hell did she mean, the fullness of the double moon?" asks Jason.
"Of course, that's it! That would explain the time dilation of this Earth, two moons!" exclaims the Professor.
"Yes that would bare out Van Meir's theory, if you double the amount of gravitational pull on the Earth's rotation, that would account for the increased speed of revolutions on it's axis, therefore shortening the days to approximately one half of a rotational cycle of our Earth. Ergo the advancement of the time dilation process making it appear as if our doubles have aged some twenty years from our perspective." says Maria with a wide smile.
"Excellent deductive reasoning Miss Chavez!" as he pats her on the shoulder.
"Ok someone wanna tell me just what is going on?" asks the President looking a bit confused.
"My dear Mr. President, tell me it's true that this Earth has indeed two moons." asks Arturo clasping his hands together.
"That's right Artemis and Luna…" answers the President, still a bit confused.
"Named after the two moon goddesses in mythology, fascinating! One more thing, how long is a day here?" asks Maria.
The President grows more confused by the moment as his face reflects this "Thirteen hours, why how long is a day for you?"
"In our universe, the Earth has a twenty four long day and we only have one moon." interjects Jason.
The President raises his eyebrows "Is that right, one moon and a twenty four hour day? "
"Hold on, I still don't get it. How would that account for the age difference between us and our doubles?" asks Jason.
"Don't you see my boy, shorter days result in accelerated time dilation. You see in our terms, they appear to be roughly twenty years older, but in their perspective, they've aged quite normally according to this world's rotational cycle." says the Professor.
"Oh sure, that explains everything." says the President.
"I suggest we get a move on Sir, before things get any weirder." says Peterson.
At the very same time the party of five emerge from the police station, the watcher known as Eagle Eyes spots them from his perch in the old building across the way. As he looks through his high powered binoculars, he grins deviously and radios into his walky talky "Ok boys, we've hit a stroke a luck. Both targets have emerged from building, go now!"
Meanwhile down below, the five linger in front of the station, trying to decide on their next course of action. "Ok as to not call anymore attention to ourselves, I suggest we all get back to the nest as quick as humanly possible. I for one don't like being out here in the open, especially with such high grade cargo."
"Agreed, the faster we get out of here, the better." says Arturo.
Jason than spots a brown car speeding down the road in their direction. He stops and looks closer, his eyes widening as he spots what looks like the barrel of an automatic weapon emerging from the driver's window.
"Hey guys!" he shouts.
Peterson looks back and spots the speeding vehicle approaching. His instincts and training as a Secret Service Agent kick in, as not a moment to soon he grabs the President and pulls him down to ground as he yells to the others "Get down, now!!!!"
The others follow suit and drop to the pavement as a hail of automatic fire bursts from the speeding vehicle, a wall of bullets smashing into everything within sight. Windows shatter, cars are riddled and people duck for cover as the devastating attack commences. The President looks up, rage engulfing his eyes as his own instincts boil over. "Oh hell no!" he says as he grabs Peterson's side arm from inside his jacket and bolts out into the street.
With nothing but pure adrenaline and anger pumping, he fires off round after round after the escaping vehicle "You want a piece of me you son of bitch, c'mon!!!" he shouts.
The President's unexpected counter attack shatters the back window of the brown car, striking the passenger in the back of the head. A second shot manages to blow out a tire and the automobile goes careening off the road, crashing into a lamp post. The President runs toward the scene of the accident and swiftly reaches into the driver's side window, delivering blow after blow to the injured driver. Peterson runs after his charge and pulls him away from his attack on the vehicle's driver.
"Mr. President stop, Sir enough!" he shouts as he forces the older Jason back.
The President gets a hold of his senses and in a fit of rage tosses the gun out into the street "Damn Canadian maggots!"
Meanwhile the trio of Sliders slowly raise to their feet as they look on at the scenario playing out just down the road. Several police officers spill out of the precinct in response to the drive by attack. Jason lowers his hand from his ears as he was shielding them from the deafening noise of the gunfire "Ok this is definitely getting old! I can't believe that crazy bastard just did that."
Arturo looks back to the Colonel with just a hint of a smile on his face "Indeed, it seems your double is quite the man of action…and in a world as seemingly as hostile as this one is, it could get him killed."
"Look lets just get the hell out of here!" says Jason as the three run toward the President and Peterson down the road.
Jason reaches his double and nearly tackles him "What are you insane, what the hell were you thinking!"
The President turns around and grabs one side of Jason's collar " Well what hell did you expect me to do, huh!"
Jason stops and realizes his double's motivations for his actions and nods "Probably the same thing I would've done."
Suddenly a car pulls up, with Peterson in the driver's seat. He stops the car and beckons for the others to get in "Hurry up, all of you get in!"
The other four climb into the vehicle and it speeds off…