Doubles, Troubles And Bent On Revenge

Maggie looked at Remmy. She was worried about him. He seemed to be
suffering from depression ever since Quinn, well our Quinn, disappeared.
Maggie sighed. Lately all he could talk about was Quinn, Wade, Colin, and
the Professor.

"...3...2...1..." Diana said as she watched the timer count down. As the
timer hit zero she lifted and pointed it to a position right in front of
the group. They stood in an empty alley way, and their dark blue-green
portal appeared in front of them. Diana jumped, then Mallory, then Maggie.

"Here we go again," muttered Remmy as he took one last look around. For
some reason he was glad to be leaving that world behind. Finally he jumped.

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide
into a thousand different worlds? Where it's the same year. And you're the
same person. But everything else was different?
And what if you can't find your way home?

Doubles, Troubles, and Bent on Revenge

A Sliders Fanfic by Echos

"Whoa!" cried Remmy as he landed from the ride. He accidentally knocked
over some nearby garbage cans which in turn landed on him. "I remember
that it was the professor that always landed in the garbage. I guess
that's rubbed off on me," laughed Remmy.

"Kinda like that time when the Professor landed in the garbage on the world
where he thought he was inspector Doyle," said Mallory with a smile. Then
he frowned. "I was never on that world, was I?" The others smiled and
shook their heads.

Remmy got excited as he rose from the ground. "Man, it's been a while."
The others looked up to see what Remmy was looking at. The Golden Gate
Bridge.

Maggie looked at Diana. "How long do we have here?"

"5 days, 17 hours, 23 minutes, and 58 seconds." Diana read off of the
timer. Diana watched Remmy tell Mallory something. Mallory then took off
for the side of the road and flagged down a cab.

Remmy couldn't help but smile. He looked at the man who sat in the drivers
seat. "Hey Pavel, take us to the Dominion Hotel on Hubbard street."

"Okay" came the reply of the Russian cab driver. The doors closed and
Remmy laughed as the cab drove off.

As the cab disappeared, the sky tore open to reveal a yellow white vortex.
From it jumped two people.

"They're still here," said the female as she looked down at the timer.

"Far out Logan!" cried the man as he picked himself up from the landing.
His hair was long and he had a gotee. His glasses were somewhat ascue on
his face.

"Enjoy the ride Bennish?" asked Logan as she swept some of her dark hair
from her face. Logan didn't wait for a reply; she started walking. She
wanted to get a hotel room then track down the other sliders. She only had
four days on this world. There was no time to waste.

"Awesome!!" Bennish was looking at his surroundings. "Way cool ride." A
smile crossed his face. Bennish then took off running after her.

___________________________________________________________________

Part two

Maggie couldn't believe it. Remmy hadn't stopped smiling and laughing
since they arrived. It seemed he had a thousand memories about this city.

"... and this one time we landed on a world where I was a super star and
when we walked into the hotel Calhoun, the man at the desk, started singing
'Tears in my Fro'. It was great." Maggie watched as Remmy went on and on
about his past slides. "Well I'm hungry." Remmy said as he finished one
of his stories. "Shall we go get some lunch?"

"I could go for that." Diana was in a good mood. "How about something
gourmet?"

Mallory stood up. "I saw a cafe' down stairs. That looked good."

There were heads nodding in agreement. They headed for the doorway but
before Remmy reached the handle, a purple vortex that looked like liquid
velvet opened over the bed. From it fell four people. "Whoa!" and "Watch
Out!" came the many cries. The sliders watched, intrigued to see other
sliders land on this world.

"Finally. A soft landing!" exclaimed the oldest man. He was heavyset with
curly black hair and a beard.

"Well what about that time with the couch? That was nice." pointed out the
woman. She was very beautiful with short red hair.

"He landed next to it - not on it." laughed the youngest male. He seemed
tall and his light brown hair was in his eyes.

"Humph!" The older man frowned as the other three laughed.

The final traveler noticed that there were others in the room.
"Uhhh...guys," he said as a warning to his companions. He was young and
looked related to the other young male, but with shorter hair. "Now that
may seem strange," he started, "but -"

Maggie cut him off. "Oh my...Quinn!" Startled, the man took a step
backwards. Remmy put a hand on Maggie’s shoulder. She looked at him and
mouthed the words 'I know' with sadness.

"I'm sorry but this is not the man you know," tried the oldest man. "He
just happens to have an extraordinary likeness to him."

"It's okay Professor," said Remmy. "We know you're doubles."

Surprised the Professor asked, "You know about sliding?"

"Yeah, we know something." replied Remmy with a smile. It was so good, yet
weird, seeing his friends again.

"Well you obviously know the Professor and me but as for our other
companions they are Colin Mallory, my brother," Colin nodded his head in
acknowledgment, "and Wade, my wife." Quinn smiled down at Wade who was by
his side.

Maggie had mixed emotions. Shocked for seeing these people, anger that it
wasn't her Quinn, and jealousy that he was in love with Wade. Remmy was
just plain overjoyed at seeing his lost friends.
Of course the two already knew Wade and Colin, but decided to let Quinn
finish his introduction.

"Well hello, I'm Maggie Beckett, this is Rembrandt Brown, and over there is
Diana Davis and...Mallory."

"Quinn Mallory." It was something that he felt was necessary to throw in.

Quinn and Colin looked at him with curiosity and confusion. "But..."
Quinn couldn't seem to find the words.

After looking around at the people in the room, Diana threw in a helpful
comment. "It's a long story."

"Well we'd like to hear it," said Wade.

"Can we discuss it over lunch?" asked Mallory. "I'm starving."

"I think we can do that," said Wade with a smile. Mallory looked at the
new group. Memories flooded his mind that he knew he had never
experienced. Mallory loved Wade, but he had never met her before this
moment. He remembered the smiles shared between him and the others, but
it all seemed fake. Mallory frowned as he shook his head as if trying to
shake away the memories. Then he put on his usual smile.

Quinn lifted his arm and Wade accepted it happily. They walked out the
door with Colin and the Professor in tow. As Maggie looked at the two walk
out the door, she felt jealousy rising in her. Remmy laughed and chased
after them. Mallory and Diana were close behind. Maggie watched them
leave. She shook her head in disgust and slammed the door as she left.

*****

Logan St. Clair sat on the bed inside the Motel 12 with a set of small
screwdrivers. She was busy making adjustments to the timer. Always
perfecting it. It had been burnt up after her first slide. She never
forgave Quinn for doing that to her. If it hadn't been for Bennish...

Conrad Bennish Jr. was busy watching tv. "Wow, I didn't know a girl could
look so good in a toga." Logan was amazed by him. He seemed like such an
idiot that it was hard to believe he was a genius. She shook her head.
Not only was he smart but he had access to equipment that would help her
rebuild her timer.

"What on earth are you watching?" asked Logan.

"Uhhh...Caesar knows best," he said with a laugh. He seemed proud to have
figured out the name. Logan sighed and turned back to her timer. 'Quinn,
I'll make sure you suffer for doing this to me.' That was all she could
think of.

___________________________________________________________________

Part three

Colin sat at the table with his friends. He noticed that all the waiters
and waitresses wore togas. This world was apparently New Rome. Colin
absently sipped his drink as he listened to the other's stories. It amazed
him on how differently things might have turned out. Was it possible that
his brother and himself were raised on different worlds? 'This is so
weird', he thought. 'So very weird.' He focused on what the professor was
saying.

"So let's get this straight," said the Professor in an effort to organize
all the new knowledge. "I was shot and killed by this mad man named
Rickman..."

"I'm in some breeding camp..." picked up Wade. It was apparent that she
wasn't sure what to think.

"I'm some how combined inside of him..." Quinn said as he pointed to
Mallory. He had a look of disbelief on his face.

"...And I'm, what did you call it? Unstuck in the space-time continuum?
Weird. All because of a mad scientist." Colin was confused. It was indeed
a LONG story. He took a good look at Mallory. Could this man who didn't
look anything like his brother be his brother's double? Everyone
considered Quinn to be a genius but this Mallory guy didn't seem to know
the first thing about sliding.

Remmy seemed to be bothered by something. "But what I don't understand is
that why me or Maggie aren't part of your group. I mean I'm sure you must
have turned up the power some or encountered a world where light pulsars
had hit."

Quinn looked at him with a question on his face. "Of course we turned up
the power but my brother and I had worked out the equation and the exact
amount of power needed. As for light pulsars, well I think we landed on
that world but we didn't have more than 15 minutes on it."

Colin looked at the two group of sliders. His group he knew, but the
other. Well it was an intriguing group. A singer, a military woman, a
scientist and a man who was made up of two people. This was going to be an
interesting slide, and it wasn't because of the togas.

"Well I need some new clothes. I've had these on since the last world."
said Wade. "Quinn and I are going shopping, would any of you like to come?"

Mallory stood up. "Well why not? I'd like to try on one of those togas."
The others laughed.

"I'd better go along. I don't trust you buying my clothes Mallory,"
Maggie said with a smile.

"All right then," Wade said as she stood up, "We'd love to have the
company." She looked to the Professor, "You'll get the tab for us, won't
you?"

The Professor smiled. "Of course my dear." With that, Quinn and Wade
joined hands and started walking out of the cafe'. A distance behind them
Maggie and Mallory walked out.

Walking down the street, Maggie watched in selfish pain as the couple ahead
would stop to kiss and smile.

"So that's the Quinn you love, huh?" Mallory had noticed something
bothering Maggie. "He looks like a pretty nice guy, a bit geeky, but a
nice guy." Maggie just walked ahead silently. "You know, you're just as
pretty as her. And as smart. Besides, she looks a little fat if you ask me."

Maggie noticed it too but was too annoyed to be friendly. She spoke up,
"She's not fat you idiot, she's pregnant!"

Mallory looked down hurt. Maggie felt terrible for exploding. "I'm sorry
it's just that ..."

Mallory was angry now, Maggie could tell. "I know, I know. That bubble
universe. Face it Maggie. That Quinn loves Wade, and your Quinn is gone.
But for once I'd like you to notice me. Not the 'guy whose combined with
Quinn' but me. I'm sorry but life goes on." Mallory sped up his pace so
he didn't have to face her. He heard everyday about the amazing genuis
and how Mallory himself didn't compare. He was plain sick of it.

Maggie stopped. Mallory paused to see why she stopped and then looked
forward to watch Quinn and Wade disappear in a store. "I'm sorry Maggie."
Mallory was truly apologetic.

"It's not your fault. You're right. Quinn is gone." With that she smiled
and took his arm. Together they walked into the store.

*****

The Professor sat talking with Diana. He was thrilled that he had another
mind he could talk to about sliding. "So you're saying that this little
metal contraption is a computer? Simply amazing! What do you call it?"

Diana laughed. This man appealed to her as a teacher. He knew many things
that she could barely grasp. Yet he had a lot of questions at the same
time. "Well this is what we call a Portable Dimensional Laboratory but we
just use the word Paddle for short."

The Professor looked up to see Remmy and Colin return from getting a room.
"Well, it's room 11," said Remmy. "We put it under Q-ball's name so let
him know."

"Q-ball?" questioned the Professor. Colin just shrugged with an
expression on that said 'Don't ask me'.

"Oh yeah," said Remmy as if he was remembering something. "That's what I
called our Quinn." Remmy turned to Colin. "Come on farm boy. Let's get
us a drink at the bar." Colin gave the Professor one last look that said
'This guy is crazy' before following Remmy.

The Professor laughed. "That Mr. Brown is a character."

"Yeah, he sure talked about you guys a lot." came the reply from a smiling
Diana. The smile faded. "He misses you all."

"It must be hard on him." sympathized the Professor.

"Yeah." They were silent for a moment. Diana looked down at the two
timers sitting on the table. One looked like a modified cell phone while
theirs looked like a futuristic remote control of some kind. The read outs
were 10 minutes apart.

The Professor spoke up again. "Do you think that you could possibly
transfer the ability to track worm holes and save coordinates to our timer?"

"We can sure try," Diana said, the smile resurfacing.

____________________________________________________________________

Part four

Quinn was busy picking out shirts for his brother and himself when Wade
came up to him.

"Quinn?"

"Yeah hun?"

"That Maggie girl seems to be looking at you a lot."

"Yeah, I noticed that too." He looked over his shoulder to see Maggie's
eyes dart back down to the clothing. "They said that the combination thing
happened recently. Maybe there was something between her and my double.
Infinite worlds, infinite possibilities." Quinn smiled.

Wade smiled back. They kissed. "Maybe I'll talk to her, see what's going
on in her mind."

"That'd be nice."

They shared a quick hug and then Wade picked up her pile of clothes. 'Oh
great,' thought Maggie, 'Here comes Mrs. Happy.'

"Hi Maggie." It was obvious that Wade was nervous.

"Hi Wade."

"So...did you know my double well?"

"I knew she annoyed the heck out of me," Maggie saw the hurt expression on
the red head's face. "But I loved her for that. Made life more exciting."

Wade smiled. "Were you and Quinn...close?"

Maggie sighed. "I loved him. On one world we spent a whole lifetime in a
bubble with in a matter of hours." A look of confusion crossed Wade's
face. Maggie smiled. "It's okay, not many people get it." They smiled
and finished their shopping.

On their way back to the hotel, Quinn walked next to Mallory as the girls
talked and laughed in the back. It was good seeing them getting along with
each other. Quinn carried most of the bags and packages. He didn't want
Wade straining herself.

"What's it like being a genius?" asked Mallory with an amused tone. He
wanted to get to know his double better.

Quinn laughed. "It's not as great as it sounds. That word has a lot of
responsibility hooked to it. I'm the reason why they aren't home." His
expression turned sad as he looked at Wade. "She deserves to have a home."
Quinn closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them again. "Tell me,
what's it like being two people? It seems strange that I would be inside
of you somewhere."

Mallory smiled. "It's weird. Sometimes I'm just me and other times - bam!
I have these memories. Like I knew Wade and Colin and the Professor when
I saw them but I had never met them before. I tell you it's weird." Quinn
smiled.

They had arrived back at the hotel. Quinn and Mallory played true
gentlemen and held open the doors for the ladies. Maggie and Wade giggled
about being fussed over.

"Ah, Quinn my boy, these people have the most incredible technology," the
Professor said as Quinn came in the front door entering the cafe'.

"Good to see you too Professor. Did Colin get us a room?"

"Oh yes. Room 11. Here's the key." The Professor handed him a brass key.

Quinn turned to his group. "Shall we?" They started up the stairs.

*****

Logan counted the bullets in her gun. Three. 'That should be enough,' she
thought to herself. She put her foot on the bed and raised her pant leg to
put her gun in it's holder.

Bennish walked into the room. "Can you believe they don't have Chinese
food on this world?"

Logan quickly put her pant leg down.

"All I wanted was some sushi."

"Bennish? Did you find out what hotel Quinn Mallory was staying at?"

"Yeah...uhh...Dominion Hotel. Room number 11. Why do you want him anyways?"

"Oh I just wanted to say hi," said Logan as she put her foot on the ground.

____________________________________________________________________

Part five

As Quinn and his companions approached the room, he noticed that the door
was slightly ajar. From inside he heard laughing and what sounded like a
bird squawking. The door opened to reveal Colin and Remmy sitting at the
table. "Hey Quinn! This man on his world was a singer. Can you believe
that?"

Quinn took one look at Colin before shaking his head. "Man, you guys are
drunk." Colin waved him off. "How many drinks did you have Colin?" His
brother asked him as if he was talking to a small child. The others did
their best to stifle their laughs.

"Oh only eight... I think." came the reply of the smiling man.

Quinn's mouth dropped open slightly. "EIGHT! Colin, you can barely handle
TWO." Colin just smiled.

"Hey Q-ball! Your brother is a great singer. Show them Colin." Remmy
was drunk himself. Colin stood up, staggering a bit, and began singing
'Cry Like A Man' which was one of Remmy's hits. The others winced. They
knew who the squawking bird was now.

"Colin!" Quinn shouted trying to get his brother's attention. "Colin! Why
don't you lay down for a while?" Colin looked at him smiling. He let out
a loud belch and passed out on the bed.

"Wasted." commented Wade as she looked at her brother in law.

Remmy was still laughing. "Don't worry Q-ball. I only had three." He was
drunk but looked half sober.

There was a knock on the door followed by a "Hello, anyone here?"

*****

Logan approached room 11. For two years she had waited for her revenge.
When she first encountered Quinn, she had tracked his worm hole. She asked
for his help in return for the use of her lab to see if he could find a way
home. Her probes that had been sent to other worlds had burned up on
return and she needed that fixed. After his refusal to miss the slide to
help her, she took drastic measures. She followed him to the next world
but he instead of inputting the coordinates to send her home, he sent her
to another earth leaving her with a burned out timer and no place to go.
'Quinn will get what he's got coming.' thought Logan as she knocked on the
door. "Hello, anyone here?" She heard laughing as a man with dark hair
opened the door.

"Can I help you?" asked Mallory.

Logan gripped the gun that was behind her back. "Yes, I'd like to see
Quinn Mallory please."

Mallory laughed a little. He turned to Quinn. "I think she means you."

Logan stepped in side the room. Quinn turned to her. "I'm Qui-."

He was cut off by Remmy. "Hey Q-ball!" Remmy was still laughing. "That
looks like Logan. Hey wait, that is Logan! Watch out Q-ball, last time
she saw you she was mad." Remmy laughed as he collapsed into a chair. He
wiped some tears from his eyes. "They don't call me the Cryin' Man for
nothin."

"You'll have to excuse him, he's drunk. Now do we know each other?" Quinn
looked at Logan.

"Forgotten me already? I'm so hurt. You know he's right." Logan looked at
the laughing black man in the chair. "Last time I saw you Quinn, I was
mad. Things never change." With that she pulled out her gun. When Quinn
saw the gun, he positioned himself in front of Wade in case anything should
happen.

"Now, Logan was it? I'm not the guy you want. You see I'm his double."
Quinn was getting nervous. Maggie watched Logan looking for a way to get
the gun away from her. Things didn't look good. Mallory seemed to be
struggling with some thing. He remembered Logan. She had kidnapped Wade
and tried to kill her. And she also tried to kill the Professor. Or did
she actually kill him? Memories flooded his mind and overloaded it. He
winced in pain as he slowly sunk to the bed. Logan didn't notice him.

"Don't play dumb with me Quinn. You know our minds work the same." She
looked at the smiling Colin passed out on the bed. "Well dear double. He
looks like he could be our brother."

Quinn eyes widened in shock as a realization crossed his mind.
"You...me...doubles..."

"We've been through this before." Logan’s frustration was rising. She
pointed the gun at Quinn. "But I think I'll kill you this time."

"Remarkable! Quinn you won't believe this remark..." The Professor and
Diana had just walked in the room. "Oh, well...uhhh..."

"Hello Max." Logan said with a sarcastic smile.

"Hello," came the unsure reply. He had noticed the gun aimed at Quinn.

"Isn't it convenient. I get to kill your double and you. Again. But this
time I'll use a gun. Worm holes are so unpredictable." The Professor was
at a lost for words.

Mallory replayed the event in his mind. She shoved the Professor into the
worm hole as she had done to his double. But the timer had found the right
coordinates returning him back safely.

"Listen can't we talk?" Quinn was getting desperate.

"No." Logan pulled the trigger. Wade could see it as if it was in slow
motion. The bullet hit him squarely in the shoulder. With a wince of pain
on his face, Quinn dropped to the floor in a motionless heap. Wade was
immediately at his side.

"No...no...no..." she kept whispering. She glared at Logan. "Get out of
here! He wasn't your Quinn. You want your Quinn, talk to him." Wade had
tears streaming down her cheeks as she pointed to Mallory. "He's your
Quinn...he's your Quinn..." Wade trailed off. She was crying.

Maggie felt a certain fear of losing Quinn again, even though he wasn't her
Quinn. "Get the ambulance over here! Now!"

Logan looked at Wade strangely. Then she looked at Mallory. He looked up
at her. "She's right, I'm your Quinn."

"Impossible." she said. "I knew Quinn and your not him."

"Then how would I know about the dinner and the kiss we shared? Or how
after the timer found the right coordinates I deleted them all? I'm your
Quinn - he's just an innocent double."

"No. It can't be." Logan was confused. She couldn't handle the situation
anymore. Panic stricken, she ran out the door.

Maggie started to run after her but was held back by Mallory. "Let her go.
She'll be back to finish the job." They looked down at Wade who was
cradling Quinn's head and crying. They looked at Remmy who was now sound
asleep in the chair. The Professor and Diana just looked at the spectacle
wondering what had gone on in the time that they had not been there.

During all that time, Colin had laid asleep on the bed with a goofy smile
on his face.

*****

Logan paced the floor of her hotel room. 'How could that man be Quinn?'
She thought it over and over and came up with the same answer each time.
She didn't have a clue.

Bennish looked up from his episode of Ben Hur-cules. He watched as Logan
walked back and forth across the room. He knew it was only a matter of
time before she burnt out. He was ready for it. "Logan, why don't you sit
down for a while?"

"Bennish, have you ever made the mistake of getting the wrong man?"

"Huh?" Bennish watched the television as Kevin Sorbo threw one man into
another knocking them both out. He turned off the tv.

Logan remembered that she never told him of her plan to kill Quinn. "Never
mind." He was such a simple man. He wouldn't understand.

"Why don't you get some sleep? It seems you're suffering from stress."

She looked at her bed and finally laid down. With in a few moments, she
had dozed off. Bennish smiled. He recalled that while he was searching
for Quinn in the hotels, that he had come across the name of Diana Davis.
The name brought back memories of working in a lab and making the discovery
of traveling through the interdimensional gate way. He remembered walking
into the lab and seeing the vortex open with his faithful lab assistant,
Diana, holding the timer. He remembered her eyes filled with greed as she
took one last look at him before jumping in with his life's work. He was
left with nothing. Until one day while walking to the lab he noticed a
vortex closing. As he approached the spot it had been, he noticed a woman
swearing and stomping around. On the ground laid a burnt out timer. He
introduced himself and made an offer. He would help her rebuild her timer
if he could go with her. She agreed and now they were here.

Bennish lifted Logan's pant leg and removed the gun. He saw her with it one
time. She said that she carried it around in case they ran into a hostile
world. He never cared what reason it was. 'Diana, this one's for you,'
he thought as he cocked the gun.

___________________________________________________________________

Part six

Maggie stood at the entrance of Quinn's hospital room. Wade sat in chair
next to the bed lost in thought.

"How is he?"

Wade quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath. "The
doctors say he's lost a lot of blood but he'll survive."

"Don't worry, he'll make it." Maggie looked at the tired person before
her. She had a certain pain for Wade, she loved Quinn too. "If I may ask,
when did Quinn purpose?"

Wade gave a little laugh. "Ironically it was after he was shot. I had won
the lottery but on that world it meant that I would have to give up my
life. He was shot just before he entered the vortex and when he gained
consciousness again he told me he had a dream. He said that in his dream
no one cared that he died and I had fallen in love with another man. He
told me at that point that he never wanted to lose me and he asked me to
marry him."

<Flashback>

Quinn looked down at Wade who was sleeping by his bed. He remembered being
shot and the dream he had. He reached into his pocket where he fingered
the ring he had planned to give Wade on her birthday. It was made of thin
gold with a small diamond located in the middle. Now he had other plans
for it. He moaned a little as to make her think he was waking up. "Ohhh."
Wade opened her eyes and lifted her head. She felt a wave of relief
covered her.

"How are you doing?" She was still worried about him, but not as much.

"I'm okay considering I was shot." He replied with a smile. She smiled
back. "Wade I had an awful dream. It felt like if I died, no one would
care. You even fell in love with that Ryan guy. It crushed me. Wade, I
can't live without you."

Wade looked at him. Her heart nearly leaped out of her when she heard him
say that. "Oh Quinn..."

Quinn retrieved the ring from his pocket. "I was going to give this to you
for your birthday but...Wade what I'm trying to say is...Wade, will you
marry me?"

She could hardly get the word yes out of her mouth. She was crying too
hard. Tears of joy and tears of relief. "I was wondering when you were
going to ask me." She laughed through her tears. "Oh Quinn!" She hugged him.

"AHHH. Watch the shoulder." She let off. Quinn laid back down rubbing
the sore spot gently.

"You always get hit in the shoulder," she joked.

<Flash back to present>

"A few worlds later we landed on Hawaii world and we were there for almost
a month." Wade smiled at the pleasant memory. "The Professor walked me
down the aisle and I laughed when I saw all the men had flower garlands
around their necks. It was the greatest day of my life."

Maggie smiled. She and Wade had become quite close in the past day.
Maggie never dreamed that she and a double of Wade would ever get along.
It was a funny thought. Wade rubbed her stomach where it was slightly
showing.

"He said he wanted five."

"Excuse me?" Maggie was caught off guard by this comment.

"Kids. I told him that I hoped he liked stretch marks." Wade laughed a
sad laugh. Then she looked up at Maggie. Tears were forming again. After
all she had been through, she still couldn't handle the stress. "Maggie?
What am I going to do if he doesn't come out of it? I can't make it with
out him. He told me once he couldn't live with out me. How can I live
with out him?"

Maggie was touched. She really felt for her. "Wade don't worry. Your
Quinn is a lot like my Quinn and he always made it out of it."

"Yeah? Then where is he now?" Wade looked back down at the unconscious
Quinn.

The nurse came in. "I'm sorry ladies but visiting hours are over. You
will have to leave now." Wade bent over and kissed Quinn before leaving.
Maggie followed her. They went to the waiting room to see their friends.

*****

Diana sat in the cafe' alone contemplating yesterday's events. Everything
had happened so quickly. They still had 3 and 1/2 days left. Lost in
thought, she didn't notice the man behind her until he held a gun to her
back and said, "Get up slowly." They walked to a corner where she then got
a look at the man. He had long hair and a gotee.

"What do you want?" Try as she might, Diana couldn't keep the fear from
her voice. She couldn't handle violence. Before she went sliding, she led
the ideal sheltered life of a scientist. Now she was always in the line of
fire it seemed.

"Diana. I've come to repay a wrong that was done to me. When you stole my
timer." Bennish felt menacing. He liked it. He was fed up with being the
laughing stock at the lab because he didn't have proof that
interdimensional traveling was possible. It was all because of Diana.

"I'm not her." What was it with mistaken doubles this slide? "I really
don't know what you're talking about." Diana looked around to see if there
were anyone to help her or anyway of escape. Nobody, no way. She began to
dispair.

Bennish looked in her eyes. They were filled with fear and innocence. He
knew she had no clue who he was. "I can't do this," said Bennish with a
sigh. He lowered the gun and started walking away. A bit confused, Diana
went after him.

"Wait a minute. You want to tell me what that was all about?" She didn't
like being left in the dark.

He sighed. "Okay." They sat down at a table and he told her his story.
He never mentioned who the female he traveled with was. Never mentioned
Logan's name.

After a pause Diana spoke. "Well I was headed over to the hospital to
visit a friend, would you like to come?"

Bennish smiled. "Sure." It wasn't everyday he ran into other sliders.

*****

The Professor sat in the hospital waiting room with Remmy. Diana and
Bennish walked in.

"Bennish?" asked an unbelieving professor.

"Do I know you?" questioned Bennish.

"No probably not."

"Bennish here is a Slider also. I invited him to come with me to visit
Quinn," Diana said to inform the Professor.

"Quinn? Quinn Mallory?" asked Bennish. He recognized the name from
yesterday when Logan had him track him down.

"Yes, he was shot by a crazed woman. Do you know him? That's the trouble
with doubles. You never know if you have the right one," said the
Professor as he shook his head.

A crazed woman? He remembered their conversation from earlier. "Have you
ever gotten the wrong man?" is what she asked. "Oh no...Logan."

The Professor looked up at Bennish suspiciously. "Do you know her? She
was the one who shot Quinn."

Conrad Bennish Jr. felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Man
I'm sorry but I helped her track him down. She said she just wanted to say
hi." Bennish felt miserable. "She had a gun but she said it was only to
be used in case we ran into hostile worlds." This whole mess was because
of him.

Wade and Maggie walked into the waiting room to over hear the conversation.

"Say hi?! You Blistering Idiot! No one spends years on sliding and
carries a gun to say HI to some one!"
The Professor was fuming.

"Hey guys," interrupted Wade. "I'm hungry, can we go get something to eat?"

"Mr. Bennish, I would like you to meet Wade Mallory. The wife of the man
you helped shoot!" The Professor was shouting now. Wade looked at Bennish.

"What's he talking about?" asked Wade. She began to have a queasy feeling
about this.

"Wade, I'm a slider who travels with Logan. I had no idea of her
intentions. Honestly. She told me to track him down. I didn't know she'd
shoot him." Bennish had a look of pleading on his face. The woman who
stood before him looked as if she had been through a lot. He worried that
anymore stress would cause her to break.

"You helped her?! How could you?" Wade had tears running down her face.
If Maggie had not held her new friend back, she would have started hitting
the man. Wade was becoming hysterical.

Maggie tried her best to calm Wade. "Wade, he didn't know." Wade just
kept shaking her head.

Bennish was looking around the room for some help. "Well...if it helps
any, she won't shoot anyone else."

"And why is that?" Rembrandt was now beginning to get testy at this guy.
He remembered when he encountered doubles of the man and they were much
different.

"Because I have her gun." He pulled it from his pocket. He held it out
for inspection and the Professor verified it was the same.

"And why on earth do YOU have her gun? Are you going to shoot some one
too?!" The Professor was storming around the room now. Wade sat on the
chair silently crying. When she heard the comment, she looked up into the
eyes of the man.

It stopped Bennish cold. He felt terrible. As he was about to confess,
Diana stepped in. "He said he saw it on the counter and he ...er... didn't
want the maid ... getting alarmed when she saw it. So he brought it with
him." She looked at Bennish to confirm her story.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's right." The Professor looked at him not believing a
word he heard but didn't want any more trouble so he said nothing.

Wade just stood up. "I need some lunch." With that, she walked out of the
room avoiding all eye contact. The others looked at Bennish then went
after her. Bennish followed a distance behind.

*****

As they were walking out into the hospital parking lot, Remmy noticed a
crowd running toward them. His first thought was that he was a superstar
on this world and his fans found out he was here. But he soon saw a man
who they were chasing. The man was holding a bag. He was too busy
watching the crowd behind him that he didn't notice the man he was coming
on close to. "Professor! Watch out!" Remmy reacted too late. The
Professor turned to see the man as he crashed into him.

"Ahhh!" came the cry from the Professor. The two toppled over and fell to
the ground. This had now attracted the attention of the other sliders.
They watched as the man and the Professor struggled to get up. As they
stood up the Professor turned to the man. "Good man, would you kindly
watch where you are going next time?!" The man looked at the crowd that
would be there soon. The Professor started to brush himself off when he
felt a gun to his head.

"Don't move or I kill him!" The crowd slowed and the sliders watched in
horror.

"What on earth are you doing, you BLISTERING IDIOT?!" Shouts could be
heard from the crowd identifying the man as a bank robber.

The man seemed nervous. He walked over to a car taking the Professor with
him, who was still at gun point. "Get in." The Professor didn't want to
obey. "I said GET IN!" Surprised, the Professor slowly sunk into the car.
"Don't follow me or this man dies!" With that, the robber drove off.

The crowd grumbled and slowly broke up. Wade shook her head and kept
asking "Why?" over and over again. She began to cry. Remmy caught one of
the people in the crowd as he was leaving.

"So what's the story on this guy?"

The man looked annoyed. "He robbed the Bank of Caesar and took off
running. He's long gone now."

"Aren't you going after him? That man he took hostage was our friend."
Remmy was getting mad at this man's attitude.

"Why? He'll suffer the consequences. As for your friend, don't expect to
see him again. The robber will probably kill him." The man walked off and
Remmy walked back to his friends.

"I can't believe this world. They don't even care that the Professor was
taken. Well let's get Wade back to the room and we'll go look for him.
The licence plate on the car read GOW98 maybe we can track it down." Remmy
and the others made their way to the hotel. Everyone was on edge and
didn't want to talk.

*****

"Ugh!" Colin awoke with a pounding headache. For some reason he had the
words 'cry like a man' running through his head. The room was empty except
for Mallory who was dozing in the chair at the table. Last thing Colin
remembered was going the bar with Remmy. Remmy was a pretty interesting
guy, Colin found out. He had told Colin about what his double was like and
how much fun they used to have. Now he was laying on his bed wondering
where everyone was.

Mallory awoke. He rubbed his eyes in an effort to rub the sleep away. He
watched as Colin pulled himself to a sitting position while holding his
head. "You've slept through a lot brother."

Colin was still a little groggy. "Why, what did I miss?" He stood up only
to fall back down.

"Oh nothing, except the fact that one of my crazed doubles came and shot
your brother. And weird enough, it was a female double." Mallory was
tired. Tired of always being tracked and always being shot at. He had
seen enough and just wished that the memories would go away.

Colin tried to clear his head. "Someone shot Quinn? Is he all right?"

Mallory stood up and walked over to Colin. "He's in the hospital right now
and everybody is in the waiting room. I volunteered to stay and make sure
you were all right. You drank way too much. Eight?" Colin just shrugged.
He couldn't remember anything past his second one. A knock came from the
door followed by a "Mallory, it's us."

Mallory opened the door to find his friends and another man. "Bennish?"
Mallory couldn't believe it was him.

"Why is it that everyone knows me but I don't know them?" Bennish looked
slightly frustrated. Wade walked in and sat on the bed. She was doing her
best not to break down in tears again. Remmy just stood against the wall.
Maggie sat in one of the chairs.

Mallory looked at the others. "Why is Bennish here?" The others looked
around nervously. No one wanted to answer. Finally Maggie spoke up.

"It's a long story Mallory. But it turns out that Bennish here is
traveling with Logan St. Clair." Maggie looked exasperated. Mallory
looked into the eyes of the double of his old friend. Bennish looked away.
“He tracked Quinn down," Maggie continued, "but he didn't know Logan was
going to shoot him." Mallory's mind was blasted.

"She shot the wrong one. When she knocked on the door and asked for Quinn,
I assumed that she meant the other Quinn because she didn't recognize me.
With all the bad luck she shot him when she was after me." He felt
responsible because Quinn's injury was partially his fault.

"Mallory, Bennish has Logan's gun, so I have devised a plan to repay Logan.
This is what I was thinking..." Remmy told the rest of his group his plan.
As he finished up, heads nodded in agreement. Bennish left to go back to
his hotel. Maggie would see if she could get a weapon incase Logan tried
to strike again. Wade would go back to the hospital, while Mallory, Diana,
and Remmy would go about seeing what they do to convince Logan that Mallory
was who she really wanted. Colin would look for the Professor.

_____________________________________________________________________

Part seven

Logan was tearing up almost everything in the room. She remember having
the gun in it's holder. Or was it on the desk? Or maybe it was on the
bed. Her memory was fuzzy. With turned up cushins on the floor, she fell
back onto the bed. Where was it?

Bennish walked into the room looking sheepish. Logan immediately sat up.
"Where have you been?"

"I was hungry, I needed lunch. What happened to this place? Looks like a
tornado blew through here." Bennish tried to act normal, but it was hard.

Luckily Logan was too distracted to notice. "I can't find my gun. I know
I left it here somewhere. Do you know where it is?"

Bennish acted like it was no big deal. "I have it." He shrugged a little
then turned on the tv.

Logan looked at him as if he was the stupidest person in the world. "You
have it? YOU have it?! Why did you take my gun?!"

"It was sitting out and I didn't want the maid to get alarmed if she saw
it." The television screen showed male and female models walking down the
cat walk showing off the newest models of togas. There were many different
colors.

Logan’s jaw dropped slightly. "Would you so kindly give it back?" Bennish
handed it to her. She opened the barrel to find her bullets still there.
She let out a sigh of relief. 'Now,' she thought, 'How can I figure out
which is the right one? Oh I'll just kill them both.' She laid back
smiling wickedly. Bennish watched her out of the corner of his eye. She
was happy for some reason.

*****

Colin sat in front of a computer in the library. He was going through the
records of licence plate
numbers. 'GOW98' he kept repeating to himself. Finally he found it. It
belonged to a person named David Kent. Colin made a note of it on a piece
of paper and logged off. He would find the Professor. He knew he had to.

*****

"So what facts do we have to convince Logan you're the right one? What
about the spectrum? She switched spectrums with us. That might work."
Remmy was thinking hard. They had been sitting in the cafe' for close to
two hours and it was getting dark.

"No we have a different timer now. Wait a minute. How did she track us
down anyways?" Mallory couldn't think of anything that might have happened
that wouldn't have happened between any other doubles. They looked at
Diana who was sitting at the table with them.

She looked at them confused. Then it dawned on her. "Oh, well she
probably tracked Quinn's sliding signature. That would work. If she knew
that yours and Quinn's signatures were different and yours is the one she
wants, then well... I guess that might just work."

Mallory thought of something. "But how can she find out our signatures?"

Remmy figured it out. "She tracked us right? Well then her timer must
have some function to identify signatures. If we can talk to her then
she'll be able to tell that she shot the wrong one."

Mallory looked at him. "What do you mean shot the wrong one? She
shouldn't have shot anyone in the first place. We'll meet before the she
and Bennish slide out tomorrow and make sure she doesn't track us down
again. And as I recall she was working on sliding so that she could
conquer other worlds and strip them of their natural resources. We'll fix
that too."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan." Remmy finished up his drink and they stood up
to go to the room. The light outside was fading fast as they turned in for
the night.

*****

The Professor sat in the living room of what seemed to be the robber's
house. "Why are you keeping me here?" The robber was pacing the floor.

"Well, I just robbed a bank and you know where I live. Why else would I
keep you here?" The Professor watched the man. He seemed more like a
family man, not a bank robber.

"Why did you do it? Rob the bank I mean." The Professor was not afraid
and apparently the robber wasn't afraid of the Professor escaping because
he did not tie him down. He had even offered the Professor a drink.

"Well, my mother died a couple months ago. She had left the family jewels
to me, but the bank refused to give them to me. They had said for security
reasons that I wouldn't be able to ever receive them. I know that they
were planning to keep them for gifts to the emporer. They did that to my
neighbor. The emporer is a greedy monster and I couldn't have my family
line given to him while I suffer. I took only what was mine and nothing
else." The robber seemed to calm down. Letting off the steam must have
helped.

"Well, Mr...uhh..."

"Mr. Kent. David. My friends call me Davie."

"Well Davie, I'm sorry about your situation but did you really have to
pull me into this?" Davie stood for a moment.

"I needed an escape route and you happened to be there."

"What is it that you do exactly? For a living that is. I'm sure you don't
rob banks every day."

"I own an electronics store. It's not that big but it's nice to have a
business. What about you?"

"Oh, how very rude of me. I am Professor Maximillion Aturo of the
University of California. You may call me Max. I do some traveling with
some companions who I am sure are very worried about me."

"Well Max, not much they can do, they didn't follow us."

The Professor smiled at the comment. "Oh contrare. This happens to us
more often than you think. They should track you down and they will be
here tomorrow."

"How?" Davie couldn't believe that it was possible.

"Your licence plate number. My companions are very smart."

"Great," muttered Davie. He sat down on the bed. It looked like his clean
get away wasn't that clean.

"Maybe we could help each other. You see I have a deliema and I could use
some electronics."

"Why should I help you? How do I know your friends haven't gone to the
athorities yet?"

"We try to stay uninvolved with the locals. You set me free and maybe look
take a look at your electronics and I promise that the athorities will not
hear from us."

Davie looked at the Professor suspiciously. "Okay."

"Okay! Well I'm going to get some sleep. See you in the morning." The
Professor had his eyes on the Professor as he drifted off.

*****
Wade walked into the hotel room. She looked around to see everyone,
including the four other sliders and Bennish, dead. They had been shot.
Her heart leapt in horror as her eyes met with the killer. Logan raised
her gun and was aiming it at Wade. She heard the bullet as it rang out of
the barrel and right towards her.

Wade awoke with a start. She was sweating and her heart was racing. She
looked around the room as her eyes adjusted to the dark. Colin was asleep
on the other bed. She slipped out of bed and grabbed her coat off the back
of the chair. She took one last look around before leaving the room.

Wade entered the hospital and told the nurse at the desk that Quinn was her
husband. As she entered the room, she just stood a moment. Quinn looked
so peaceful. She felt the tears welling up again. Wade took a couple of
deep breathes. Then she sat down in the chair next to the bed. "Dear
God," she began a prayer in a quiet voice. "Please don't let him die."
She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Ohhh." Quinn stirred a little. Wade looked at him with excitement.
Quinn opened his eyes and looked at Wade. "Wade? What happened?" He
noticed his surroundings. He then remembered what happened. The woman who
mistaken him for his double and shot him. He gave out a sigh. Why did
they always shoot him? He looked over at his wife. It was good seeing
Wade.

"Quinn!" She couldn't say anymore. Her heart was beating too fast. "Oh
Quinn."

"How much longer do we have here?" Quinn was fearful that they had missed
the slide for him.

"We leave tomorrow." She could barely see through her tears. She wanted
to hug him and never let him go. "The doctor said you could leave once you
woke up. The healing techniques on this world are better than average. It
was hard waiting. I just glad that you made it back before the slide. But
there's another problem now. Someone took the Professor hostage, but Colin
is finding out who he is and where he lives. I know we're going to make
it." 'Thank you God' she thought silently. "Rest now, we'll go to the
room in the morning."

_____________________________________________________________________________

Part eight

Colin was alarmed. He woke up at 7:30 to find Wade missing. He checked
everywhere in the room throughly. 'Where could she be?!' he thought to
himself. He was getting worried about the slide. Quinn was in the
hospital and Wade and the Professor were missing. How could this get any
worse?

He had planned on going back to sleep but after not seeing Wade, well now
that was not an option. A thought crossed his mind. Maybe she went down
to the cafe to get something to eat. Yes, that must be it. He ran out the
door. He came back in and looked in the mirror. He hadn't showered yet
and his hair was messy. 'I think I better get ready first.' With that, he
went into the bathroom and closed the door.

*****

Mallory opened his eyes. Today was the day to stop Logan. He looked over
to see Diana doing work on the Paddle. "What cha' doing?"

Diana looked up from the mechanical object. "I'm finding out a way to
scramble Logan's timer so she won't be able to track worm holes or
signatures and I'm trying to rig it so that after her and Bennish slide
home, she won't be able to store coordinates."

"But Bennish worked his butt off on that timer, don't you think you should
talk to him first?"

Diana thought for a moment. She remembered how Bennish told her about what
her double did to him. How she had taken all he had worked for. She
didn't want to make him suffer again. "I'm meeting him for breakfast at
9:00 this morning. I'll talk to him then." She looked back to her Paddle.

*****

"Rise and shine!" Davie opened his eyes to see the Professor coming into
the room from the bathroom. "It's 8:00 and I need breakfast."

"What the...Max? I had half expected you to run off during the night."

"Shall we go grab something to eat then go to your shop?"

"Sure." Davie was still mostly asleep. His back was aching from spending
the night on the couch in order to make sure Max didn't do anything in the
night.

"Okay, come on." With that, the Professor walked out the door. Davie
quickly stood up and ran after him.

*****

Colin walked down the stairs to the cafe'. He was now washed up and
decent. He took a seat at a table. "It doesn't look like she's here,"
Colin said to himself. He was a little worried.

"Maybe she went to see Quinn. You know he is her husband." He was
laughing. The waitress came over and he ordered a couple cups of coffee
and a donut. She brought the coffee over and he sat drinking it.

Wade walked in with Quinn whose arm was in a sling to prevent his shoulder
from moving too much. They were smiling and joking around. Colin took a
bite of his donut, he noticed Wade out of the corner of his eye. He got up
and walked toward her. "Wade! You have had me worried all morning."
Colin looked at the couple. "Hey Bro'. You're out! Good to see you." He
was finishing up the other half of his pastry. Colin looked at his watch.
"It's 8:00. Quinn, you're out already?"

Quinn smiled at the older man. "It's great to see you too. Colin, did I
miss much? Wait last I knew you were passed out on the bed looking pretty
wasted."

"Hey I suffered the consequences. Man did I ever have a hangover. Quinn
can you believe that Wade just up and disappeared on me? She didn't tell
me where she was going. I could still be asleep right now." Colin was
smiling. It was apparent that he enjoyed teasing Wade. "Well it's good to
see you up and well Quinn. Wade, at what hour did you leave. I didn't
hear a thing." Colin was now taking his seat at the table. Wade watched
the steam from his coffee rise into the air and disappear.

"Well I think it was around one. I had a horrible dream and I couldn't get
back to sleep so I went to see Quinn. I was sitting by the bed and Quinn
woke up." She seemed like she was in a good mood.

"Well it's good to have both of you back. Oh yeah, I found out where the
Professor was at. The guy's name is David Kent. I say wait until 11:00,
that way the Professor can get breakfast." Colin broke out in a big smile.
"Now shall we go see if the others are up?"

Quinn looked at Wade. "I'll explain on the way to the room." They stood
up, left the money on the table and went to the room.

*****

Maggie came into the room to find Mallory watching tv laughing. "What's so
funny?"

"Oh it's this show. Walker: Roman Soldier. It's so stupid it's funny."
Mallory clicked the remote and the tv screen went blank. "So how did you
sleep?"

"I had this crazy dream that you and Quinn split and then Logan shot both
of you and then she was shot. Wouldn't that be funny, four doubles of the
same person being shot?" Maggie looked around. "Where's Diana?"

"Oh she went to meet Bennish for breakfast." Mallory looked up to see
Remmy come out of the bedroom. "Rise and shine sleepy head."

"Hey guys. Maggie, did you find anything that could protect us from Logan."

"Well, all I could get a hold of was a gun but it came with bullets so it
will have to work." She went over to the desk and pulled it out for
Remmy's inspection. He looked at it and nodded.

"Okay, we're set. Hopefully Diana tells Bennish where to meet. This is
going to be an interesting day." A knock comes from the door. Remmy
cautiously approached and asked "Who is it?"

"Mr. Brown, it is us," came the reply from the man on the other side of the
door. Remmy quickly opened it.

"Hey Q-ball. You're awake!" shouted Remmy as he looked at the group. He
felt relief run through him. Maggie fought the urge to go up and hug
Quinn. She just smiled and muttered a word of welcome. Mallory stood up.

"Hello Rembrandt. Hi Maggie, Mallory." Quinn greeted each one of them.
They walked into the room.

"So is everything ready Remmy?"

"Yes, Maggie has the gun, Diana is having breakfast with Bennish, and we've
decided to use quantum signatures to identify the difference in the doubles."

"Good! Now Logan will get what she deserves." Colin looked at his watch.
"Okay, 10:00. Mr. Kent's house is across town so I better get going.
Anyone wanna come?" The others shook their heads. "Figures."

*****

Diana sat at the table sipping her coffee. She looked at her watch. In
about another five minutes, Bennish should be there. She continued to
think to herself. Would she be doing the right thing by scrambling the
timer? He had worked very hard and she didn't want to take that away from
him. But they couldn't afford to have Logan coming after them again.
Maybe...

"Hey Diana."

Diana looked up to see Bennish. He didn't look like a genius, he looked
more like a hippie. "Hello Bennish. Please, sit down."

After ordering a drink, they got down to business. "Logan won't let go of
that gun. It's like a security blanket or something. Man, you should have
seen the room when I got there. The place was tore up."

"Bennish, I have to talk to you about something." Bennish’s look grew
worried. Diana forced herself to go on. "Bennish, Logan tracked us with
that timer. Inside there she has our signatures. Did she ever tell you
why she hated Quinn so much? He had found out that she was going to use
sliding to strip other worlds of their natural resources and conquer them.
If she continues to slide then who know what happens." Her eyes met with
Bonnet’s. She could see the pain of realization. His work once again
would be stolen from him.

"I can't do it." Bennish seemed to be struggling. "My life is in that
thing and if I go back with it all erased, I'll be the laughing stock of
the whole lab. I just won't let Logan have it, that's all I'll do." He
seemed lost, as if not quite sure what to do.

Diana closed her eyes for a moment. She knew it was going to be difficult.
"Logan won't accept that. She'd shoot you." Bennish knew it was true.
He slowly nodded his head in acceptance. Diana continued. "We need to
meet somewhere in order to stage our plan. By the statue in the park. Say
that you ran into Quinn and you guys got to talking and you learned of his
plans to have a pick nick and you'd thought it'd be nice if Logan and him
got together because she seemed so interested in him. Let's see, when do
you slide?"

"Around one." Bennish was now cheering up. Logan had used him for foul
play now he would help his new friends make the wrongs right. It was
almost as sweet as revenge on his former assistant would have been. The
timer though. "Is there any way that we could download all the contents of
the timer on some sort of disk?"

Diana thought for a moment. "I suppose it relies on the world. You look
for something and we'll see. I think that'd work. Sounds like a plan.
See you at one." She rose from the table and started walking towards the
room.

"Diana." Diana turned and looked at Bennish. "Thank you." Bennish smiled
and then walked out the door. Diana stood there wondering what that was for.

*****

"What do you need all this stuff for? It looks like for something out of
this world." David and the Professor were sitting on the couch in David's
living room.

"You could say that. This is going to be hard to believe but I am from a
parallel earth and I leave this one tomorrow. A fellow traveller is going
to modify our timer so that we can store coordinates of other earths and
also track other 'sliders' as we call it."

Davie sat back and laughed. "Wouldn't you know I would take a psycho
hostage?"

The Professor looked at his watch. "It's nearly 11:00. My friends should
be here soon."

A knock came from the door. 'This is too eerie,' thought Davie. He looked
through the peek hole in the door to see a young man in his twenties
standing there. He cautiosly opened the door a crack. "Yes?"

"Hello, may I come in?" said the familiar voice.

"Depends, what is your business?" Davie wasn't taking any chances.

"Good grief man! I told you my friends would come for me. Did you think I
was lying?" The Professor seemed upset that David hadn't believed him.

"Shut up!" Davie turned from the Professor to the man on the other side of
the door who was now laughing. "What are you laughing at?" 'Is every one
a psycho?' he thought.

"Hey Professor!" Colin called to the inside of the room. "Looks like this
guy doesn't trust us. Man, I tell you, Max can turn the most ruthless
killer into your best friend. Let me in." Davie, still very confused,
opened the door wider to let him in.

"Colin my boy, you have five more minutes." The Professor was now gathing
up the electronics.

"I thought I would leave early incase I couldn't find the place."

Davie cleared his throat and the other two looked at him. "Are you saying
I was that easy to find?"

The other two laughed. "Like I said, this happens to us a lot." The
Professor patted his new friend on the shoulder and started walking out the
door with Colin.

"You aren't going to turn me in are you? You promised!" The two men
turned and looked at Davie.

"You have my word." With that the Professor and Colin walked out the door.
Davie just stood there trying to figure out what just happened.

____________________________________________________________________________

Part nine

Logan couldn't believe it, how lucky could she get? "You didn't tell them
about me did you?"

"No just thought it to myself. So are you going?" Bennish almost laughed.
Could she be buying all this?

Logan sat down on the bed smiling. "I wouldn't miss this for the world.
Me and Quinn, we're close. It'll be great seeing him again." She thought
for a moment. It was probably the one who didn't look like Quinn, but
still claimed to remembered everything that happened between them. He must
have been an impostor to throw her off. Yes, she would kill him this time.
'That other one,' thought Logan, 'I wonder if he's dead.' She didn't
really care, at least one of them would die. Bennish couldn't figure out
what he had ever seen in her. Now that he knew the situation, he was
appalled by her desire to kill.

*****

Mallory sat on the blanket with Maggie. "So do you think she'll come?"

Maggie looked at him. "Do you think that she would track you down all
these years and then miss a chance to kill you? She's so bent on revenge
that she'll believe anything."

"Why is it that people always want to kill me?" laughed Mallory.

Maggie laughed too. "I guess you're the kind of guy that people get
annoyed at."

Mallory's smile faded. "Do I annoy you?"

Maggie thought for a moment. "No. It's just that it's still hard..."

Mallory understood. Seeing Quinn again really shook her up. "I'm here for
you Maggie."

Maggie looked up at him. She smiled. "Thanks. Why don't we have a
sandwich?" She looked in the basket and pulled out a couple of sandwiches.
"Peanut butter and jelly or turkey and swiss?"

"PB and J!" He took the sandwich and bit it.

"Now isn't this cozy?" Logan stood there holding her gun pointed at
Mallory. "Where is Quinn?"

Mallory swallowed his mouthful. "I'm Quinn."

"Don't play games with me. You must be here to throw me off or something.
It's not possible to change your looks so much."

"But is it possible to change a sliding signature? That's how you tracked
me, isn't it?" Mallory stood up.

Logan paused, dumbfounded.

*****

From a nearby tree watched Remmy, Quinn, Wade, Colin and the Professor. It
looked tense to them, but Mallory seemed to be handling everything okay.
Diana and Bennish were working on downloading the timer's contents on a
nearby park bench. "Okay, done!" Diana handed Bennish what looked like a
miniature c.d..

*****

Mallory took a step towards Logan. "It's me. My friends have the proof.
Would you like to meet them?" With that Mallory turned and called out
"Now!". From behind trees walked the other sliders. Logan stood there,
unsure of her next move.

She looked from Mallory to Quinn and back again. She glared at each one.

"It's over Logan." Logan spun around to come face to face with Bennish.
Beside him was Diana. "Here is the proof." He held up the timer to show
the matching signature patterns. One minute left and counting.

She was furious. "You traitor!" Her gun was now pointed at him. "You'll
pay for this." Logan cocked the gun.

A click sounded behind her. Maggie was now standing with her gun pointed
at Logan's head. "Don't do it."

"3...2...1..." Bennish opened the vortex. He grabbed Logan's gun and
pushed her in.

"I told you I was the wrong one!" cried Quinn.

"No!!!" screamed Logan as she disappeared. Bennish uncocked the gun and
threw it to Maggie. He smiled at Diana then jumped into the vortex. Diana
pushed some buttons on the PDL and the vortex disappeared.

*****

Remmy stood there for a moment. All the commotion in the past few days
made him ready for beach world. "Well, what should we do now? We have
another day until we slide."

"Well Remmy, I say we go get a drink." Colin smiled.

"Now farm boy, I suggest we get some coffee or something. You remember
last time we hit the bar! Quinn got shot." Remmy slugged Colin in the arm
and they walked off toward the road laughing. Quinn and Wade joined hands
and quietly strolled after the other two. The Professor and Diana walked
talking about different science things. Mallory and Maggie once again
watched the others walk on. They picked up the blanket and the basket.
Mallory took another bite of his sandwich. Maggie laughed at the site and
they walked to the cab that was now stopped.

___________________________________________________________________________

Part ten

"It was good meeting you guys. It has been an interesting, if not painful,
experience." Quinn rubbed his shoulder where he was shot. He laughed as
he said his good-byes.

"It's been great seeing you guys again, even if you are only doubles."
Remmy hugged Wade and gave the Professor a hand shake. "Landings haven't
been as soft without you Professor. Wade, stay away from those Kromaggs.
Colin, watch over these people. You don't know what you have until you
lose it. I know from experience. Quinn..." Remmy didn't know what to
say. He reached over and gave him a manly hug. "Take care man."

"You too Cryin' Man." Quinn smile.

"Well Professor, I hope the modifacations are of help to you. I am proud
to have met you." Diana looked in admiration at mer new friend.

"Thank you, maybe this will help us get home!" The Professor laughed.

Wade walked over to Maggie. "Maggie, thank you for your support. Take
care of yourself." After hearing the countdown from the Professor, Wade
turned to look into the vortex. She turned back to Maggie. "Give Mallory
a chance!" She watched Colin jump in the vortex.

"Take care and thank you again for all you have done for us," the
Professor shouted before he jumped in.

"Good bye Quinn, Wade. Have a good life together. And Wade, take care of
that baby!" Maggie couldn't believe it. She was actually crying.

Wade and Quinn held hands. "See you around the multiverse." Quinn smiled
at the others. Mallory and Diana waved goodbye but it wasn't too emotional
for them. Maggie and Remmy laughed, choking on their tears. The couple
disappeared into the vortex and it closed behind them. The room was silent.

*****

Remmy walked over to Maggie. It was his turn to be worried for her. "Are
you going to be all right?"

Maggie smiled a sad smile at him. "Yes." Remmy walked over to her other
side and sat down on the bed.

"It was refreshing, wasn't it? Seeing them again brought back a lot of
memories." Remmy's depression had disappeared ever since they landed on
this earth.

"Tell me about it." Maggie finally had the chance to say goodbye to Quinn.
She felt as if she could move on. She looked at Mallory.

"It's time," came the call from Diana. The two stood up and their familiar
blue green vortex opened in front of them. "I hope we land on beach world.
I need a break." Diana jumped in.

"Don't I know!" Remmy said as he jumped after her.

Mallory held out his hand. "Ready?"

Maggie took it. "As I'll ever be." Together they jumped. The vortex
collapsed behind them leaving New Rome behind. On the bed was a toga that
Mallory had bought.

*****

The vortex opened dropping Diana, Remmy, and then finally Mallory and
Maggie to the ground. They looked up to see what looked to be a medieval
knight charging toward them. Their eyes widened as they turned and started
to run.

The End

Return To Fanfic Archive