Chapter 22:
The trio emerged in a lit corridor. They stood up and brushed themselves off, assessing their surroundings.
"This looks pretty futuristic, are you sure this is where the signal was coming from?" Rebecca asked.
"It's still the same year, just a more advanced dimension, I guess." Michael said.
"Guys, I hear movement. We should figure out where we are." Sam said.
"Good idea." Rebecca said and the group began to walk towards the source of the noise.
The group walked into a room, and saw an older man sitting at a desk, facing the wall and groaning.
"I really wish that technology didn't get smaller, it's bad enough that I keep losing the spring..." the man complained, in a British accent.
"Excuse me, sir?" Michael asked, unsure of what would result from it.
"Who's there?" the man shouted, turning around.
"Professor Arturo?" Sam asked.
"You know me?" Arturo asked.
"We know of you, what's your stance on parallel universes?" Michael asked.
"Seeing as I spend three years of my life traveling through them, I'm open to the theory." Arturo said.
"Could he be, our Arturo?" Sam asked.
"I don't trust him, remember the one we met that tried to steal the timer?" Rebecca replied.
"Children, one, I can hear you. Two, if it was my conniving double on the world with the Azure Gate Bridge, I can assure you that I am not him. He was a blistering idiot." Arturo said.
"But why are you here?" Michael asked.
"It's a long story, sit down kids." Arturo replied, motioning to a set of chairs.
"Okay. I'm Michael by the way, and that's Sam and Rebecca." Michael said, as they sat down.
"It all started back when I went for check-up at a doctor's office on a world we landed on, because of an odd pain in my abdomen." Arturo started. "I was abducted by Kromaggs!"
"Kromaggs, those are the things that Rembrandt mentioned." Sam said.
"Yes, my Mr. Brown encountered them as well." Arturo said. "They replaced me with a clone that had a psychic connection to myself, so I was able to control the body, to an extent. When the body was killed by this Colonel who was attempting to shoot Quinn, I told him to get them home, and then the body died, and the Kromaggs threw me in a cell."
"Wait, was the Colonel named Rickman?" Michael asked.
"Why, yes! That was his name, and his second in command was a Ms. Beckett I believe." Arturo said.
"And after they threw you in a cell, what happened? Why is this place abandoned?" Rebecca asked.
"Well my dear, this place was liberated by Sliders who defeated the Kromaggs. They were from the world where they originated and had weapons that could defeat them." Arturo said. "They asked if I wanted a timer, to find my home, but I elected to stay behind. Aimless sliding is a game for the young, and without Quinn, Rembrandt and Wade, it just didn't appeal to me anymore."
"So you stayed behind, what were you doing when we arrived?" Sam asked.
"Oh, that. I was attempting to create some sort of beacon, to see if possibly my Quinn, if he's even still sliding would find it." Arturo replied.
"That must've been the signal we found." Michael said.
"So, it was working, but you are not who I was hoping for." Arturo said.
"Yes, but we think that you're the Arturo from our Earth." Michael said.
"Do you?" Arturo asked. "What makes you certain?"
"Your explanation for your story of what happened to you matches the story that our Quinn Mallory told us about his travels. Kromagg clones, Rickman, we can find our Quinn and I'm sure you'll know for sure when you meet if my hunch is right." Michael said.
"That's very kind of you, but like I said, aimless sliding isn't what I'm looking for unless it's with my sliders." Arturo said.
"But we can bring you to them by tracking their wormhole!" Sam said.
"And if you're wrong, I'm stuck in a parallel world where I don't belong." Arturo said.
"Listen, the Quinn we know, from our universe, his Arturo died the way that your clone did. Exact same way. That's no coincidence. What are the odds that two separate universes had a Professor Arturo from another alternate world getting killed by Rickman?" Michael asked.
"You make a compelling argument, but I haven't really had contact with humans in years! I wouldn't know how to act!" Arturo said.
"Listen, you can't spend your life isolated." Sam said. "Come with us, and it'll be just like sliding with Quinn, Remmy and Wade."
"I can do whatever I please! Now, you stay here until your timer times out, and then you can leave me alone." Arturo said.
"Professor, come on. Do you know how amazed Quinn would be if he knew that we found you, and how angry he'd be that we abandoned you?" Michael asked.
"How long do we have before we have to go?" Sam asked.
"Uh, a little less than six hours." Rebecca said.
"Professor Arturo, please come with us. We'll respect your decision if you don't but, you have six hours to decide. I'm going to go look around this place, you guys coming?" Michael asked.
"Sure." Sam said. "Think about it, Professor."
The trio walked out of the room and Arturo sat down in one of the chairs and put his head in his hands.
Quinn stood outside the door of the doctor's office as Arturo walked out, covering his eyes as they readjusted to the light. He grabbed his abdomen and leaned against the window. Quinn ran over to him.
"Professor, are you alright?" he asked. Arturo jumped up and smiled.
"Mr. Mallory, you gave me quite a start!" Arturo said.
"They gave me your voicemail at the hotel by mistake, it was a message from your doctor reminding you about your scan this morning."
"You had no right, Mr. Mallory."
"Neither did you."
Arturo sighed and sat down. Quinn sat down next to him.
"Tell me." Quinn said.
"I have a... terminal illness." Arturo said. "Incurable, inoperable, untreatable."
"There must be something you can do. How long?"
"A month... maybe a year."
"Are you in pain?"
"Surprisingly little actually. I've read the literature and, the end is inevitably cruel and quite without dignity. So, since I refuse to be the object of pity, I think it is time that we said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. I want you to remember your old Prof. with a smile and not with a tear."
"Professor, we are all leaving this world in less than an hour."
"Mr. Mallory, I've thought about it. What I wish to do with my time remaining is to travel a little, have an adventure and use every remaining second of my life to the fullest."
"Then come with us, what greater adventure than sliding?"
"Trust me, Mr. Mallory, this is for the best. Give my farewells to the others." Arturo patted Quinn's shoulder and began walked away from him.
"Fine. Go then. Go on. We'll do fine without you. Walk out on me! Go!" Quinn shouted. Arturo stopped. He turned around.
"Quinn," Arturo started.
"We need you."
Arturo smiled and started walking back towards Quinn. Arturo grabbed Quinn's shoulders and shook his head.
"Damn you, boy." Arturo hugged Quinn.
Arturo shook his head.
"If I knew that when I was in that clinic, that when I was told I was dying, it was a Kromagg plot, I'd of left sliding behind. But Mr. Mallory was there to pull me back into the vortex. I was with them, but I wasn't. I can't go back, it's been so long, I'm so old." Arturo said to himself.
"Uh, Professor?" a voice asked.
"Wade?" Arturo asked.
"No, it's Rebecca." Rebecca replied.
"Of course, I was just, reminiscing of my time sliding, and forgot where I was for a moment."
"I just want to say that, even if your Quinn isn't our Quinn, he's out there somewhere, and you should be looking for him if you care about him so much."
"I've made my mind up." Arturo said.
The trio stood in front of a wall as the timer counted down. Arturo walked up to them.
"Coming to see us off?" Michael asked.
"I told Ms. Collins that my mind was made up." Arturo said. "Let's go find Quinn."
"Awesome!" Michael said as the vortex opened and they all jumped into it.
As they slid through the vortex, Arturo groaned.
"I forgot how bumpy sliding was!" he shouted.
"Yeah, you'll get used to it again after a while!" Sam laughed.
To Be Continued...