Chapter 36:
"We're cutting it kinda close, aren't we?" Sam asked.
"Don't we always?" Michael replied, as they ran into an alley.
"Now!" Rebecca shouted, pointing the timer at the wall.
"Give me the timer!" Michael shouted.
"Take it!" Rebecca said, passing it to him as she leapt into the portal.
"Let's go!" Sam said, hopping into the portal.
"Weird... the location gyro is fluctuating. No time to investigate though." Michael said as he hopped into the portal.
Michael slid out of the portal, and landed on grass. He stood up and brushed himself off.
"The location gyro is acting up, so I'd recommend we find somewhere to get a diagnostic done on it." Michael said, looking around to see no one. "Guys?"
Sam and Rebecca stood up and looked around, noticing that they were inside a building.
"Huh, inside for a change!" Sam said. "How much time do we have here?"
"Yeah, Michael. How long?" Rebecca asked.
"Michael?" Sam asked, looking around.
"Did he...?" Rebecca asked.
"Make it? He has to have made it!" Sam said. "If not we're pretty stranded cause he has the timer."
"Let's just get to the hotel, he'll know to meet us there." Rebecca said.
"Good idea." Sam said.
They walked out of the room they were in, and into what appeared to be a saloon.
"Wow. This place looks like something out of an old Western, except for the television and all the modern technology." Sam said.
"We must be on some world that likes the Old West aesthetic." Rebecca said.
Michael walked down the street, checking the timer over. He walked past a storefront, noticing the mannequins in the window were dressed like cowboys.
"Cowboy fashion? Well I've seen weirder worlds..." Michael said, taking the timer out of his pocket and looking it over. "Damn. The gyro is way off, I might have to take this thing apart." he slipped it back into his pocket.
Suddenly a large man pushed Michael into the side of a wall. Michael groaned as the man held him up against the wall. He looked at the man, he was large, and wearing a mix of cowboy attire and biker attire.
"Hey, Josephson! I told you to never walk these streets again!" the man shouted.
"Who's Josephson?" Michael asked. "I'm Rudy Zacora."
"Nice try. How stupid do you think I am?" the man asked.
"I wish I knew who you thought I was. But I think I might just have similar facial features." Michael replied.
"Shut your face and listen up, you get out of town like I told you to, or we settle this the old fashioned way." the man shouted. "Nobody makes a fool out of Buck Colton."
"I will attempt to, sir." Michael said, shaken up.
"Now get outta here!" Buck shouted and pushed Michael away. "You got six hours! If you ain't too chicken, you can meet me in the town square ten minutes before you gotta leave town."
"Huh. Just as long as the timer has." Michael said, as he hurried along the street. He passed an alleyway and was grabbed into it. "Not again..."
"Michael!" the person shouted. He walked out of the shadows, revealing himself to be Sam.
"Sam! Thank god it's you! We only have six hours!" Michael said.
"I know, Buck's gonna get you." Sam said.
"Damn." Michael thought. "Not my Sam."
"Are you nuts?" Sam's double asked. "After what you did to him?
"Uh, refresh my memory. What exactly did I do to him?"
"You've gotta be kidding. Six months ago, you saw him attack and threaten that woman, and you, being the hero that you are, told the Sheriff, forgetting that Colton owns the entire town! He ran your keister out of town! Never thought you'd be dumb enough to come back!"
"Really? He attacked a woman? And the Sheriff did nothing?"
"You were there, you remember! Because Buck Colton's posse owns this town, and most of San Francisco!"
"Maybe I shouldn't have given up so quickly."
"Take my advice, get out of town and save yourself. It's suicide to go up against Buck Colton and his posse."
"Sure." Michael said, as he walked out of the alleyway. "Gotta find Sam and Rebecca. And somewhere to fix this thing..."
Sam and Rebecca sat in their room at the Dominion Hotel. Rebecca picked the remote up and turned on the television. The news came on, and a picture of Michael was on the screen.
"Sam! Look at this!" Rebecca shouted.
"Oh no." Sam said.
"Michael Josephson seems to have returned to San Francisco, despite the incident six months ago when he mysteriously left town. We don't know why he returned, but we know Buck Colton is going to be mighty displeased when he finds out about his return." the newscaster said. "In other news..."
"Michael! Why do you keep doing this?" Rebecca asked.
"We've gotta find him." Sam said. "But where to start looking?"
Michael walked past a saloon and peeked inside, looking at the various technological appliances that were inside.
"Looks like this world just might have the tech I need to fix the gyro." Michael said.
He started to walk away when he was grabbed from behind. He turned around to see a young woman in a dress straight out of a Clint Eastwood film.
"You're back!" she shouted.
"I'm not who you think I am." Michael said.
"Don't be silly, Michael. I'm happy you're back. I knew you weren't going to be a coward." she said. "Don't act like you don't recognize me! I'm Lynette Davison!"
"I'm afraid I don't know who you are, or who Michael is." Michael said.
"Colton ain't listening. I'm grateful that you tried to stand up for me and defend my honor, so I've been working with the old Sheriff's son on a plan to get rid of Colton and his posse, but with you back, we might have a chance after all!" Lynette said.
"What happened to the old Sheriff?" Michael asked.
"Buck and his posse shot him dead when they took over the town. He was the best Sheriff we'd ever had. Good Ol' Sheriff Mallory."
"Mallory? I want to meet the Sheriff's son."
Michael walked into the Mallory House and Lynette walked him to the basement. They walked down the stairs and Michael saw a man standing in the corner, next to a picture frame. The man turned around.
"Quinn Mallory." Michael said.
"My reputation precedes me?" Quinn's double asked.
"It does." Michael said.
"So does yours. You stood up to the man who killed my father, I respect that." Quinn said. "Whatever you need, I'll help you with."
"Well, I was wondering if you had some stuff I could use to fix my... phone." Michael said, taking the timer out.
"Not like any phone I've ever seen."
"It's a special model."
"My lab is your lab. Use what you need."
"Thanks. After that, we can prepare for the showdown with Colton. I'm not running away this time."
"Then we've got work to do."
Sam and Rebecca walked into the saloon and went up to the bar. Sam sat down, at the end of the bar and Rebecca walked to the bartender.
"What can I get for ya, Miss?" the bartender asked.
"I want to know about Michael Josephson." Rebecca replied. The entire bar went silent.
"What do you know about him?" the bartender asked.
"Just what I've heard on the news." Rebecca replied.
"He stood up to Buck Colton, and no one, and I mean, no one stands up to Buck Colton and survives. But Colton gave him a choice, stay and face him in a duel, or leave town, never to return. But he's returned." the bartender said.
"Thanks." Rebecca said, walking back to Sam. "We've gotta find him, or we'll be bringing along a casket to the next world."
Michael put the timer back in his pocket, and cleared off the workstation.
"Fixed your phone?" Quinn asked.
"Yep. Now we have to prepare for the duel." Michael replied.
"Here. I've been saving this." Lynette said, handing Michael a belt with a holster attached to it. "It was my brother's, before he was killed by Colton."
"Care to take a few practice shots?" Quinn asked, as they walked into the backyard.
"I guess." Michael said, strapping the belt on, and taking the gun out. He held it in his hand. He aimed it at the can sitting on the fence. He fired, and missed. "I'm a little out of practice."
"I can see that." Quinn said. "Let me try." Quinn aimed his gun, and fired at all four cans and knocked them all down.
"Nice." Michael said.
"Well, it's almost time for the duel." Quinn said.
"Let's go then." Michael said.
"Hold on, I want to talk to you." Lynette said. "You go ahead Quinn, we'll catch up."
"Got it." Quinn said, walking inside the house.
"Who the hell are you?" Lynette asked.
"I'm Michael." Michael replied.
"No you are not, because I just got off the phone with him."
"Well..."
"He said that he doesn't know what's going on and that he's in New York."
"I'm Michael. But from another universe." Michael said. "I'm just sliding from world to world, putting right what once went wrong, hoping that my next slide will be the slide home. And sometimes I get a chance to make my double's life easier."
"By getting him killed?"
"I dunno. He's pretty safe in New York. I'm the one in danger of getting killed."
"But, why?"
"Because, I can't leave town without my friends. And I'm sure once they hear of this duel, they'll be there to stop me."
"Come on! We have to go!" Quinn shouted.
"Let's go." Michael said.
Sam and Rebecca ran up to the town square and saw the crowd, they pushed through the crowd and saw Colton laughing with his posse.
"Looks like he was too chicken!" Colton shouted.
"Not quite, Buck." Michael said, walking up.
"Well then. Looks like we got a duel!" Colton shouted.
"We do." Michael said.
"Draw in five?" Colton asked.
"Five." Michael replied.
"Four." Colton said.
"Three." Michael said.
"Two." Colton said.
"One." Michael said, as they both took their guns out of their holsters.
"You gonna shoot?" Colton asked.
"You know what? I'm not gonna shoot." Michael replied, taking the gun and dropping it on the floor. "But he might."
Colton turned around and saw Quinn's double holding his gun. He shot Colton and he went down to the ground. Colton's posse grabbed their guns and aimed them at Quinn.
"Look boys, there are four of you, and I just used one shot on Colton. That means I have four shots and one in case I miss. Are you feeling lucky?" Quinn asked.
The posse dropped their guns and put their hands up. Quinn dug into his pocket and pulled his father's Sheriff's badge out of it and pinned it to his shirt. Michael picked the gun back up and placed it into his holster. Sam and Rebecca ran up to Michael.
"Michael! Are you crazy?" Rebecca asked.
"If I was, I'd of left town." Michael replied.
"We're just glad you're okay." Sam said. "How much time do we have?"
"Oh, right. Not that long, take the timer." Michael said, handing it to Sam.
Michael ran up to Lynette and took the belt off. He handed it to her.
"Tell him it's safe to come back, and give him this." Michael said.
"Michael!" Sam shouted. "We gotta go!"
"Seeya." Michael said, as Sam opened the portal. The Sliders jumped into it.
To Be Continued...