Here goes nothing, guys.

The vortex opened, spitting our Sliders onto the rough pavement of a remote alleyway. This particular alley was familiar, and Quinn and Rembrandt concluded that they had landed in San Francisco.

"How much time, brother?" Colin asked.
"Two weeks," Quinn answered, pocketing the timer.
"Well, let's check out this world," Rembrandt said. "If there's no Maggs and everything seems normal, I'd like to grab a burger somewhere, or maybe a juicy steak. Anti-beef world was a living hell for me."
"I think we're all a bit hungry," Maggie added. "It's getting dark - come on, let's go."

They all walked out of the alley towards town. This San Francisco seemed a lot like Earth Prime's, which was nice, but made Remmy and Quinn homesick. One markable difference was that there was no Golden Gate Bridge - there was the San Francisco Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

"Looks like we might actually have it easy for once, guys," Remmy said.

The Sliders decided to splurge and go to a Steak House for dinner, after Remmy stole some money from his unsuspecting double's bank account. Once inside, they were shown to a table. The restaurant was a nice treat, an oasis from the desert of hells-on-earth they were accustomed to.

"So, Remmy, what are you getting?" Quinn asked, knowing how badly his companion had been suffering.
"Oh, I don't know, Q-Ball," Rembrandt answered, smiling from ear to ear. "There's too much to choose from, and it's been so long since I've had a chance to eat this good!"
"Enjoy it while you can," Maggie added. "You don't know how long it will be before we're able to do this again."
"Well, you'd better decide," Colin said. "Our waitress is coming."

The Sliders were still looking at their menus as the waitress approached. She spoke, "Good evening, my name is Wade, I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you guys something to drink while you look over the menu?"

Quinn and Rembrandt both looked up at the same time in response to that familiar voice from the past they had longed to hear for so long. They all recognized her right away (except for Colin, who had a blank stare on his face), and she immediately lit up as Quinn stood to his feet.

"Wade!" Quinn exclaimed as they embraced. "I never thought I'd see you again!"
"Quinn!" she answered, "I missed you so much!"
Remmy got up and hugged her tight. "Hey, girl," he said. "Do you know how much I was worried about you?!"

Wade gently pushed Remmy away and said to him, "I'm sorry, sir...do I know you?"

===

<Q-Ball79 hands the torch off to Slider142, but drops it on the ground before he can get a grip on it. It rolls over to HurriKain, who kicks it back over to Slider142. In its slide across the floor, the torch is extinguished.>

Hehe...

***

Rembrandt's face fell, his excitement vanquished and drained as by a giant hand. It would have been better had Wade shot him through the heart right then and there. Quinn immediately switched over to his fake smile and tried to rectify the situation. "Umm, he's...heard a lot about you. He's a good friend." he continued when he saw Wade still staring at Remmy fearfully. "Erm, Wade, this is Rembrandt, Remmy, Wade."
"Hey" said Wade, reluctantly taking his offered hand. She looked at Quinn expectantly until he introduced her to all his friends. Colin was still staring blankly, but vaguely paying attention to what was going on. He had only heard of the legendary Wade in passing comments; she wasn't exactly a hot topic among the others.
Maggie took it upon herself to break the tension between Wade and Rembrandt. After all, they must have been the closest of the team members after the professor died. "Well, you know Remmy," she said, jabbing Colin uncomfortably and cracking a grin. "Always trying to make a good first impression." Rembrandt was smiling with his general good humor, but she could tell he was hurting. Colin took a different approach to the problem.
"Um," he said, raising a finger, "what does any of this have to do with food?"
The table exploded with nervous laughter, all too loud and obvious. Rembrandt took a menu and looked around at his friends. "Come on, people, let's order before we starve to death, huh?"

Quinn was actually talking to his best friend again. Well, of course he knew it was her double and all that, but still. It was a great feeling, to be able to share again, and the joy of listening to someone you cared about so deeply must be one of the treasures in life that was coveted only by the ones lucky enough to find it. And that part of him that had turned off, turned away from Wade after he found self-pity, it was alive again! He made a note to himself that he would try his best to find his friend as soon as he got back to the hotel room.
"So, did CalTech let you out for vacation or something?" asked Wade, always the moral one. He knew what she would say if he said no. And she knew he would never drop out of his dreams.
"Oh, I'm, doing some research here. Complex stuff."
"Oh" said Wade, rolling her eyes. It was one of his annoying phrases again. She had gotten used to them over time. Quinn briefly wondered whether he should ask about her father. He shouldn't have bothered. "You know, my father would kill you if he saw us walking around together." Wade said, looking at the house. "so..."
"Err, yeah." said Quinn. "I'll see you later." He had never been on good terms with her father.

"Two weeks in a world where your best friend doesn't know you from another bum on the street? I'd rather face...hordes of Kromaggits on...on lava world! At least we know who we are!" Remmy went one way and then, changing his mind, went into the bathroom, closing the door not too lightly. Maggie was watching all this, surprised and shocked. Only a few minutes before, Rembrandt had been sitting on the couch, perfectly fine, having a conversation about Wade with Colin. Hadn't they ever met doubles of Wade before. It was hard for her to accept that one person could ravage such depths of emotion in people she had known for months. Colin was watching Maggie's reaction. He had not heard much about this Wade, but he could see that Maggie was upset, and he didn't like what was starting to happen in the group. If they were to stay here for two weeks, they should be better able to cope with their feelings. He moved to comfort her, but she pushed him off and went to the window. She had demons of her own to excise.

Quinn was worried. It was getting late and he was nowhere near the Chandler. He was just about to bum a ride in a taxi when two spurts of a siren stopped him and he looked over his shoulder. A blue police car pulled alongside him, lights flashing.
"Are you Quinn Mallory?" asked one of the officers.
"Uhh" he thought. What the hell? "Yes, that's me. What's the problem?"
The two officers looked at each other and nodded. "You're wanted for questioning in the disappearance and possible murder of one Wade Welles. Her father saw you hanging around this evening." The officer had put much emphasis on "murder". It didn't look good.
"Sir, if you don't come in voluntarily, we'll have to take you by force. Please cooperate."
Quinn got in reluctantly and the patrol car drove off slowly, it's lights eerily reflecting off the neighborhood foliage...

***

<Slider142 gives the faux-torch (with orange and yellow construction paper fire) to Slider_Sarah, who looks at it funny. >
HurriKain : You're not going to take that thing, are you?
Slider_Sarah shrugs : Hey, it looks fine by me.

===

Maggie still stood staring out of the window, deep in thought. She hadn't got on well with Wade and she didn't really expect it to be different here. After Steven had died she'd lashed out a lot and Wade had just been a convienient target. She and Wade hadn't got on even before Steven and Wade's beloved professor had died.

She lifted her arm to glance at her watch. It was getting late. "Hey Colin!" she called. He was still seated on the couch watching TV. "Is Quinn back yet?"

Colin shook his head. "No, my brother has not returned." A look of shock flooded his face. "Do you think he may be in trouble?"

Maggie gave a short laugh before answering. "With his track record? You can almost count on it."

"We'd better go and find him them." Colin wanted to go now.

"Let's get Remmy on board first," she said, almost condescendingly. She patted him on the shoulder and he rose to join her.

"Remmy," she called through the bathroom door.

"Hmmm," was all the reply she got. Personally, she thought locking yourself in the bathroom was pretty pathetic, but she didn't voice that thought.

"Remmy?" she asked again.

"I'm just coming." Maggie then heard the toilet flush and after a couple of seconds the door opened to reveal Remmy. "What is it?"

"Quinn's not back yet and we're worried. We're going to look for him. You coming?"

"Yeah, yeah. Q-ball's always getting himself into some kind of trouble. He was trying not to think about the fact Wade might be there. It was hard enough on him as it was. But he couldn't just leave Quinn in one of the potentially dangerous situations he was always getting into.

However, they didn't even get out the door. Colin had left the television and they were all startled when a news update came on. Automatically they all turned to look at the screen.

"...Quinn Mallory has just been arrested in connection with the disappearence of waitress Wade Welles. It is currently believed that he has either abducted or murdered Miss Welles to gain custody of their two-year-old son, currently living with Miss Welles and her father."

There was a slight break in the news report, but the Sliders present said nothing. They were all too stunned.

The news report continued. "Quinn Mallory was refused the right to see his son soon after his birth. Miss Welles never allowed the rape case to go to court, claiming that it was a mutual agreement, but her father used his rights to have Quinn Mallory banned from seeing his son. Mr. Welles saw him talking to his daughter earlier today and when it was revealed his daughter was missing alerted the police. So far, Quinn Mallory has not talked on the whereabouts of his former girlfriend. Their son, Michael, named for Quinn's dead father, is being safely held for his safety." The report then showed a picture of Quinn in the police car before ending and returning to the scheduled programme.

Colin was the first to speak. "Woah!" was all he could think of and even that came out in a wobbly tone.

"I think THAT'S the understatement of the year," commented Maggie. "They seem to be making an awfully big deal out of it."

"Maybe there was a big fuss about if two years ago. Or maybe this word is very concerned about things like this." As usual, Remmy was the one with the sensible suggestions.

"We've *got* to go and get him out!" decided Colin spontaneously.

Maggie looked at him. "What can we do? Short of breaking him out," Colin's eyes lit up, "there is nothing." Colin's eyes fell again.

"What about telling them the truth? We know that's our Quinn! He was wearing the same clothes he was earlier!"

"Come on, Colin!" Maggie tried to persuade him. "We can't exactly go in and tell them the truth. They'd probably throw us in the nearest mental institution!"

Rembrandt thought about it for a moment and then spoke. "It seems our only hope is to find Wade and/or Q-Ball's double..."

* * *

Quinn sat in an interrogation cell, bored out of his brains. And there was a lot of brains to be bored out of. This was not going to well. At least the others had two weeks to get him out of here. He was busy counting the cracks in the wall when a man walked in, followed by another man and a small woman.

There was the usual 'formalities' before the lead man got down to questionning. "So what are you doing down here in San Fransisco, then? Shouldn't you be working at CalTech?"

Quinn used the same excuse he had with Wade. "Er...I'm here doing some research."

"Really?" The man did not sound convinced. "Can you tell me what you were researching?"

Here Quinn floundered. He had no idea of what his double would have been working on and he was sure the police would.

The man seemed satisfied. "Thought not. CalTech has no record of you conducting research here in San Francisco. In fact, they haven't been able to reach you since late last night. And now you turn up here, just in time for the disappearence to Wade Welles. Seems a bit suspicious, don't you think?"

Quinn did not know what to say to that. It *was* an incredible coincidence, but they wouldn't believe his reasoning. He had no clue what was going on other than that, so when the lead man asked him about his son, Quinn was so startled that the question had to be repeated.

"Is your intent to see your son?"

Quinn said nothing, vainly trying to put the pieces together in his head. It now seemed that his double had obviously been involved with Wade and they had had a son. It also seemed to Quinn that Wade's father had stopped his double from seeing his son. That was all he knew, but he guessed there were more. He tried to steal a glance at the papers in front of the man. He could just about make out the notes, "Possible rape - Miss Welles not agree, parental rights exerted." The last part he did not quite understand, but the first part was clear enough. His double had been accused of raping this world's Wade, even though she tried to persuade them otherwise. This put a whole new spin on things. He just hoped that the others could get him out of there *soon*...

===

<Slider_Sarah accidently rips part of the torch and so throws it at HurriKain>
Slider_Sarah: Here you are! Make sense of that. I'm off to finish my food coursework.
HurriKain: How am I supposed to fix the torch?
Slider_Sarah: <shrugs> How should I know? It's your turn now. <she runs out of the cave>

Maggie, Remmy, and Colin agreed that the only place to start looking is at CalTech.
"Maybe there is something about Quinn's double here," Maggie said, as she went through the electronic doors.
"Yeah," Remmy agreed, "like an address."
Once inside they approached the Building Directory.
Colin annouced, "Here, Quinn's sector is on the third floor. And the elevators are down the hall." And with that the three start walking down the long hallway. Maggie saw an opportunity to talk to Remmy about the what happened at the restaurant. He seemed so down and out ever since that moment.
"Uh Remmy, " Maggie said nervously. "I know how you felt about what happened earlier. But there's no way that she could have known you on this world."
Remmy face fell. "I know... but she felt so threatened by me, and you know that I would kill myself before I harmed her. It's been a year since I seen her face, and when I saw her at the restaurant, I lost control, and I hugged her. But when she pushed me away, it felt like reality has hit me with a tonne of bricks. And when she didn't recognize me, it felt like all my hopes are shattered and there's no way to fit the pieces back together."
Maggie knew exactly how he felt. When she met her dead husband a world back. She knew that she couldn't have Steven back but when she saw him, alive and well, she wanted to be with him, even for a little while.
Maggie puts her hand on Remmy's shoulder. "Remmy, I know how you feel but... you know that's not your Wade. And you know that she wouldn't push you back and renounce you. And when we find Wade, she is going to greet you with open arms."
Remmy looked at Maggie with a smile. "Maybe you're right."
As the elevator stopped on the third floor, the three got out and walked down another long hallway. Along the way the passed security guards and workers. Colin pointed to a double-door. "There's Quinn's offices."
As the three approached, they heard some shuffling sounds coming from the room opposite them. And as Colin peeked through the small window on one of the doors, he saw a figure rummaging through papers...

HurriKain: Phew... OK ThomasMalthus, your turn.
<HurriKain gives ThomasMalthus the torch, and upon walking to his pen and paper, he trips on a stone. The torch is flying in midair. And everything goes slow-motion as the torch falls on the ground.>
HurriKain: NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
<The torch hits the ground and the flame is extinguished.>

Michael Welles sat alone in his room with his sketch pad and paper in hand as usual. His grandfather said he was going down to the police station, but he wasn't so sure. Grandpa avoided Michael as much as possible, probably because he reminded him so much of Quinn. 'Funny', he thought. 'Most kids my age call their father "Daddy". I just call mine by his name.' Doctor Crandall was supposed to be here, but he came and went as he pleased. 'Grownups always think I need to be supervised,' Michael thought. 'Especially now that they can't find Mommy. But I know she'll be OK.'

Michael Welles, he still couldn't figure out why they didn't call him 'Mallory', that was his father's name after all, was a prodigy by anyone's standards. When he was two, he was currently three and 3/4 years old, they discovered he had a natural knack for mathematics, language and reading skills. He had already learned to play the piano, at least a little, and was adding and subtracting three-digit numbers and had begun learning his multiplication tables. Quinn had given him a copy of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" for his third birthday, and he had already read it several times. Wade always made a big deal over everything he did like that, but Michael didn't think that was anything special. All he wanted to do was draw. His artistic talent was good, but not as spectacular as everything else.

Michael sat and drew circles over and over again on the pad in front of him. It seemed to make a tunnel of some kind. Michael had drawn this image many times before, but never had figured out what it meant or why he drew it. He sighed and turned on the television to see if they had found his mommy and cleared Quinn yet.

*****

Colin couldn't quite make out the face of the man currently searching frantically for papers in Quinn's office in CalTech. He could tell the man was wearing a suit and tie. "He does not look like a thief," Colin said simply.

"Looks can be deceiving," Maggie said. "What's he doing?"

"He appears to be looking for something. A document, perhaps."

"He might be a cop," Rembrandt reminded them both.

"Or he might not," Maggie said. "We should check it out. See if he has the proper credentials."

"But what could we possibly tell him? He have no more right to be here than he does." Colin threw in.

"Hey, do you want to get to the bottom of this or not?" Maggie asked him.

"Guys, I hate to break it to you, but he's coming out now." He pointed towards the doorway and a strange-looking man wearing spectacles walked out with a series of papers in his hand...

*****

"Thank you for giving us your statement, Mr. Welles. We've got all the evidence we need to put Mallory away for a very long time."

"I'm just glad I could help bring that monster to justice." Wade's father walked out the door of the police station and donned his coat and hat. He had a slight smile on his face. "Very glad."

Hope I didn't overstep my writing boundaries with this instalment. <ThomasMalthus throws the torch in the air with all his might. It flies two inches and lands on the ground. TM picks it up quickly and relights it using his Human Torch® Flamethrower. He forgets who the torch is supposed to go to, so he just stands there, waiting for someone to come along.

ThomasMalthus (Support the CD CD Campaign!)

***

Colin, Maggie, and Remmy run into the office next to Quinn's. As the mysterious man walks out and down the hall to the elevator, the fearless group exits the office.

"I'll check to see if he's left yet." Maggie whispers.

Remmy nods his approval as Colin opens the door to Quinn's office. Before Remmy enters the office, he turns around and looks at Maggie like he's never going to see her again. Maggie prowls around the corner to the elevator to see where it was headed.

"Funny, it's going up ... guess I'll have to follow," Maggie states.

***

Remmy and Colin enter Quinn's office. Remmy heads over to the desk and starts the opening and closing of drawers. Colin starts on the file cabinet located next to the door. Remmy soon discovers Quinn's calendar; it seems Michael's (Quinn's son's) 4th birthday is in a week.

Colin calls out, "Remmy come here, I think I've figured out what that guy took."

Remmy does a modest strut over to the filing cabinet.

"Whatcha got Colin?"

"Look, everything in this folder is missing. Certain pages are gone out of this file and these files are missing the result."

"So a few pages are missing out of some experiments - big deal!" Remmy pauses, "Unless, whoever that suit and tie guy was was the competition. Let's go find Maggie."

***

Maggie watches the elevator dial as it stops on the 10th floor. "Well feet don't fail me now!" Maggie begins the perilous climb to the 10th floor. Ever so silently she opens the door and peers out. Coast is clear. Maggie starts walking around the floor when she hears voices and a muffled sound. She puts her ear to the door.

"You dumb fool, you said you killed Quinn Mallory. Now I turn on the news and there he is being arrested for the disappearance of Ms. Welles. Mr Welles paid us good money to kill him."

"But boss I did kill him, I saw him die."

"Well somehow you failed. Now we're stuck watching his daughter until we find those friends of Mr. Mallory's. Come, we need to finish up in the office, bring those boxes I want to make sure we pick up all the files from Mr. Mallory's office."

"Colin, Remmy, I've got to get them out of there."

Maggie runs down to the 3rd floor and is almost knocked backwards by the force of an opening door. Maggie stumbles a bit and gets ready to lunge at the people opening the door.

"Maggie I'm glad we found you!" Remmy says.

Colin and Remmy go into detail explaining to Maggie what they have found and in turn Maggie blurts out "I've found Wade!"

***

Meanwhile Mr. Welles decides to drive to CalTech to see his daughter and speak with Mr. Kain. As he arrives at CalTech he catches the elevator to Mr. Kain's office on the 10th floor. As Mr. Welles reaches the 10th floor he heads directly to Mr. Kain's office. Already our sliders have gotten back up to the 10th floor to free Wade. Maggie opens the door to see Mr. Welles walking to Kain's office. Maggie and Remmy then follow Mr. Welles to the office, while Colin sits in the stairwell overcome with shock. As the two sit outside listening throught the door they hear this:

"Wade, my sweet daughter, what else could I do? I could never let Quinn find out the truth. How do you explain to your grandson why his real daddy is never around? Anyways my sweet child Mr. Kain and I have some unresolved business to take care of downstairs. Waity here like a good little girl until I return."

Hearing this Maggie and Remmy run back to the stairwell. The door closes just as Mr. Kain, Mr. Welles, and Rocco (Mr. Kain's thug) enter the hallway and head toward the elevator. When the coast was clean our remaing sliders run to Mr. Kain's office. They open the door to find Wade bound and gagged. Remmy says nothing as he unties Wade and takes the gag out of her mouth.

"Remmy, OH GOD how I've missed you!!" Wade cries out.

She embraces him for a long time not wanting to let go. Remmy's eyes start to swell with tears,

"Wade is that really you?"

"Yeah it is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Wade pleads with Remmy to forgive her.

"Can we finish this at a later date, we have to get out of here!" Maggie demands.

Colin has been quiet through this whole ordeal, reason being, he's thinking.

Remmy remarks, "Let's go back to the Chandler and think of how we're getting Q-Ball out of jail."

***

<Quinns_Girl looks around and finally sees RavageKnight.>
Quinns_Girl: "Sorry RavageKnight I thought it was my turn. Do you want the torch or should I give it to PFKAS?
<RavageKnight looks silently at Quinns_Girl.>

Whew! Anyway...

***

Quinn was languishing in a concrete walled cell. His only company was a bed bolted to the wall and a metal toilet/sink across from the bed. The walls were covered with graffiti (FOX sucks!, No more re-runs you bastards!) much of which did not make sense to him.

His monotony was suddenly broken when a metal door down the hall was opened with loud key turns and much banging of metal doors against concrete surfaces.

Harsh boot clicking on stone tile floors made their way up to his cell, which was the furthest for the entry. From the sound, the man approaching methodically was heavy.

Finally, the man appeared in front of the bars. He was tall, perhaps Quinn's height, and heavyset. He wore a grey suit that looked to be worth more money than Quinn had seen in 10 Remmy ATM visits. The man's face was plain, and he was balding, but his eyes were dead, which made his impassive face all the more intimidating.
There was a cloying odor of aftershave about the man, suggesting that he applied it with a fire hose.

"Hello Mr. Mallory, if that really is your name. You may call me Mr. Kain. There is no one else in this cell block, we may talk freely."

"And what is your role in all this?" Quinn wanted to know.

"Well, here is my problem. I killed someone who looks just like you. Oh, don't make a face. I am inviolate, it doesn't matter what I admit to YOU. Now I want to know who you are, and who it was I killed. Has this something to do with your research? Have you perfected cloning?"

Quinn did not respond.

"Come now, Mr. Mallory. I was only paid to kill you once. Tell me the secret, give me the fruits of your research, and I will smuggle you out of here. I care little whether you live or die, but not killing people is almost always more profitable than killing them turns out to be. Play nice and everything will turn out fine. Disappoint me, and I will make your time in here very hard. Jail can be a ... disappointing place, my friend. Or I will simply round up your friends who have been nosing around and throw a cell block party in here. In case you haven't guessed, I own the police."

Quinn considered his options.

"Think about it. Just remember that I expect proof of whatever cock and bull story you come up with. I shall return in one hour. Have your mind made up then."

The man departed quickly, without giving Quinn a chance to respond.

***

Outside the station, Wade's father was waiting with Rocco.

Kain resumed his submissive airs. "Mr. Welles, sir, I checked around. I think I can get him out of there and have him eliminated quietly. Why don't you go back to your daughter and leave it to us."

Well's eyes narrowed, but Kain's guileless face convinced him. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

No one in the car spied the carload of Sliders and friends arrive on the other side of the parking lot.

TO BE CONTINUED...

<Throws torch in the air. "Hey! Someone catch this hot mother-...>
Transmission severed for the sake of good taste. =:-)

***

A burly guard restrained the Sliders and Wade [never thought I'd see myself write that 7:-( ] from going any farther into SF Penitentiary. "'Scuse me, folks, but what business do y'all have here? It'd better not be 'bout that Mallory case. A real natural born killer, I tell ya, but the media's makin' 'im some kinda sick hero. If I get *one more* screaming girl in here wantin' his autograph, I swear I'm gonna..."

Colin realized he hadn't pitched in yet in the effort to save his brother, and decided to invent an alibi to get the team in. "I'm his brother and we came to pick up some of his stuff" was unlikely to work this time...

"We're his backup singers," Colin declared.

The guard frowned. "*What?*"

Remmy flashed Colin a look that would have frozen one of ThomasMalthus' kerosene-soaked megatorches. "Yeah, we're the, uh, 'Gospel Quinn-tet'. We preach the good news through song to convicted prisoners everywhere."

The guard apparently decided they were harmless, and waved them through. Once out of earshot, Remmy had a few choice words for Farmboy.

Colin protested "But that's how you always refer to us when you think we're not listening!"

Remmy sputtered in embarassment as Maggie laughed hysterically into her sleeve.

***

Two weeks until the slide, and about two minutes until the ultimatum expired. Quinn had decided to tell Kain about Sliding and hope he could string him along long enough to survive and escape.

In his youth, Quinn had whiled away countless hours grounded in his room playing tic-tac-toe with his imaginary friend Skip. He later learned from the Professor that tic-tac-toe was inherently insoluble: it depended on one player or the other making a stupid mistake. If each move was made correctly, the game would invariably end in stalemate.

Still, the Professor had also taught his favourite pupil that the pen is a mighty instrument. And since a pen was all the guards would provide for their prisoner's amusement, he'd reverted to the pastime of his youth.

Besides, it brought back memories.

The word 'memories' made him think of Wade. He started to think of the way he'd ignored her after Maggie joined the team, and the way he'd seemed so callous in refusing to look for her when they landed square in a Magg breeding camp.

All these remorseful self-remonstrances flew from his head as soon as Maggie entered the cell block. She seemed to have a numbing effect on his brain's higher reasoning centres.

"Maggie!" Quinn cried out in joy. Remmy rolled his eyes, fished the lockpick from his pocket and went to work. Wade looked away from Quinn, preferring to focus on the lovely workmanship of the ceiling frescoes.

Colin lifted a tattered, three-month-old copy of Newsweek from the guard table. The cover depicted Don Welles, CEO of the Jupiter Mining Corporation and the richest industrialist in the state. He was apparently being investigated for ties to organized crime but no proof had yet been uncovered.

Mr. Kain watched the group from around the corner. *Hmm...* he thought. *Maybe if I convince Welles to spring for the group assassination discount...?

***

Blinker: OK, torch - go find RavageKnight!
<Blinker hurls torch in a random direction to the shock and dismay of those nearby>
Torch (in odd synthetic-sounding voice): I wish you'd let go of me a little more gently.
<Torch suddenly rights itself and flies off towards RavageKnight>
Slider142: The torch flame is alive? Who knew?!
Blinker: Well, it *is* a Sliders torch...

***

"This is amazing," Quinn kept repeating.
"Yes, I admit when I started the cloning and advanced aging experiements I didn't expect them to save my life. So you aren't my clone."
"No. I'm your double from a parallel earth. Why is Welles after you?"
"Dad has a double vendetta against yo--I mean Quinn. We were very much in love and on our way to eloping when my father's men caught us. To save his life I agreed to stay away from him. Michael is a wonderful, brilliant child and we are doing all of this for him."
Remmy interupped, "But at the jail, I thought you were our Wade. How do you know my double?"
"Rembrandt Brown is Quinn's mentor. He has been in hiding for two years. In fact, this is his cabin. He helped us in our attempt to elope and he is Michael's godfather."
"How old is Michael?"
"He's almost three."
"Wait a minute," Colin burst in, "we found a note on Quinn's desk that said Michael's fourth birthday is next week."
"That was Quinn's joke. Michael was born a year to the day after we, uhm, you know."

***

At the Well's home, the sounds of a fierce argument can be heard. Michael is writing a list:
Kain
clones
daddy
mommy's disappearance
guns
mafia
money laundering
He then picks up a card from his Mom. "Read only in case of emergency" is plastered in red across the front. Inside is a map, money, a phone, number and a card.
"Michael, if anything happens to me I want you to find Remmy. He will be at the phone number that's attached. He will take good care of you. I love you. I will always love you. Be brave.--Love Mommy."
Picking up the phone, Michael dials, "Remmy..."

***

"We could never have come this close to busting dad without your help. How can we ever thank you?"
"Wade, there's really no need. We would just like to find my father's friends and I doubt you could help us with that. Are you guys going to be okay with the rest of the operation?"
"Babe, we've got thirty 'till the portal."
"Mr. Brown, both of you it's been a pleasure. I haven't enjoyed a sting so much in years." Xine and Junior are shaking hands all around as the conversation continues. When Xine reaches for singer-Remmy's hand something strange occurs. They both glow for a brief moment.
"What was that?"
"It worked." Junior shouted. "By the way my full name is Rembrandt Brown Junior, "he shouts jumping into the portal."
"I'm Maxine Arturo."
Then they were gone. "Can we follow them?" Remmy asked.
"Yeah," Quinn replied as he punched keys on the timer, "one week to slide."

***

On another earth Maxine and Junior walk into a room. "Dad, we found them..."

THE END?