Remmy's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh man, I'm gonna order me a Diana Ross in that case! C'mon Q-Ball, let someone else have a go"."Easy Cryin' Man," said Quinn, brushing Remmy's hand away from the terminal, "we don't know enough about this technology yet to start playing around with it. What gets me is how they knew WHO to replicate for me. I mean, I never pressed any buttons, left any notes or anything, and I haven't even mentioned Wade in a long time."
"Yeah, too damn long if you want my opinion," Remmy quietly muttered to himself, acutely aware of his own feelings for their lost friend.
Quinn shot him an acusing glance, but Remmy just held up his hands in a gesture of supplicance. Now was not the time for fighting between themselves.
"Look Remmy," Quinn started, "I know it seems that I haven't had time to reflect on Wade's situation recently, but I was thinking about her just before I fell aslee...." Quinn's voice trailed off as the realisation hit him. "Oh dear God. They must have some way of reading thought patterns, that's the only explanation".
"Excuse me, brother", interupted Colin, "but how can they do that? Read thoughts I mean".
Quinn took a deep breath, if it was anyone other than his brother who kept asking him questions.. well, no matter, "When we think, our brain sends a series of electrical impulses around our entire body. This world must have the technology not only to monitor those impulses, but to interpret them as well. Maybe there are receivers in the bedstands. That's how they managed to get the image of Wade. Then I guess they search public records for the matching citizen here, and replicate them. But don't quote me on this".
Suddenly a voice broke through the discussion, a voice combining both authority, and not a little exasperation; it could only be Maggie. "What the hell are we sitting here discussing this for! Don't you remember when we landed on this world, Mallory, you said we only had three hours and change until the next slide. This is morning, WE MISSED IT!! We're stuck here for twenty-nine years because you were dreaming about your old girlfriend!"
The blood drained from Quinn's face as the enormity of what Maggie had just said sunk in. Slowly, almost gingerly he pulled the timer from his pocket. As he stared down at the digital display, his expression was first one of confusion, and then disbelief. "I don't believe it," he said, barely audibly, "the timer still shows three hours and change. There must be something wrong with it."
He quickly prised the cover off of the timer, and looked hard at it. For almost a minute he prodded and poked, searching for what could be wrong. Suddenly his face was split by a large grin, and he started softly chuckling to himself.
"What is it Q-Ball, what's wrong?"
"Come on Mallory, quit it! What's the problem?"
Quinn just smiled at them, and held up the timer like some kind of trophy. "It's the first digit on the display. It's not working! We didn't have three hours when we landed here, we must have had THIRTEEN ! Ha-Ha, we didn't miss the slide!"
Remmy let a wry grin touch the side of his mouth, "Oh man, and I was just beginning to imagine the next twenty-nine years with Diana Ross!"
Maggie let out a big sigh.
Colin just looked confused.
"So all we do now is just wait here until the timer reads zero, and BOOM, onto the next world, eh Q-Ball?"
"Not quite Remmy." Quinn said, deciding once more to take things firmly in hand. "If this world could read thought waves they might be able to pick-up about sliding technology, I don't want to take that risk. I say we move to a relocate to the nearest park and wait their, I doubt they put monitoring devices in trees."
And with that Quinn got up and left the room.
"You're the boss Q-Ball". Said Remmy, earning a sharp look from Maggie, before they too followed Quinn.
"I wish we could find a world without all these computers, it is so confusing", said Colin, drifting along in their wake.
