"Another jungle world."

The speaker, a black middle-aged man, dusts himself off and reaches down to help his female companion. The other two, brothers to the bone, sit quietly taking in the sudden change. Trees so tall the tops can be seen from the ground tower like guards at an entrance.

They seem to have landed on the border between two lands. To the left a jungle, rain forest, whatever you choose to label it, spread far beyond their range of sight. To the right a small village perched overlooking the ocean.

Two strangers came. A young naked woman full of self-confidence and somehow not quite human--none of them could have said how. And a man, clothed; his frontal lobe came forward and Quinn was heard to mutter, "Neanderthal."

They spoke, the two newcomers. It sounded like so much gibberish to the four sliders. The woman moved toward Colin.

The others watched her hand touch his forehead. She repeated the gesture three times.

"It is not often strangers come to our land." Surprisingly it was her eyes that captured the most attention. "We ask only that you stay in the Sanctuary with the Sons of Man. My people, the Sons of God, care for the Garden and its inhabitants. If you wish for a tour of the Garden it can be arranged. For now though, go with Oak. Peace to your path." She returned to the forest.

"I am Oak. Please follow me. Be careful of your steps. Outside Eden things are not always as they seem."

"Eden?"

"Yes, the Garden of Eden. The Sons of God inhabit it. They care for the creatures and plants within. They have no written language. They don't need it. We have been unable to tell how long they live, where they bury their dead, or much else."

"Uhm, Sons of God and Sons of Man. What does that mean?"

"Quinn, give the guy a break. I'm sure he'll fill us in when we get to the village. By the way, I'm Maggie." Oak smiled shyly at her and they continued on.

The village was a collection of a hundred or so buildings.

The sliders found themselves housed in the guest lodge. There were seven rooms, one was a bathing chamber.

"How long do we have here?"

"A little over nine months. Gee, why not a year? Sorry guys. Remmy, did you notice anything familiar about that woman?"

"Something about her hair. Why do you ask Quinn?"

"She just reminded me of someone. Someone I thought you might remember."

Before Remmy could respond, Oak entered the dwelling. He was followed by two children bearing platters of food. A variety of fruits and vegetables were decorously laid out. Maggie, daring as always, bit into what appeared to be an apple. "OHHH. THAT IS SOOOO GOOD. OHHH. OHHH. You guys have to try this."

"I'm more interested in information than food."

"Quinn, you are no fun."

"I am here to answer any of your question. Children, return to your classes."

"How long has your world existed?" The other three members of the fab four allowed their jaws to drop at the answer. Quinn just found the ground.

"Approximately five thousand years."

"Ar--ar---are you sh--sh--sure?"

"It is not an entirely accurate account. But give or take a hundred years, yes I am sure."

"Do many people slide here?" Maggie finished the fruit.

"Sliding. Is that what you call it? Hmm. We have a few visitors. Theynever stay longer than they have to. The Sons of God do more than just care for the things inside the Garden. They guard three trees at its center. None of us know exactly what those trees are. We do know they are very powerful. And none of us wishes to risk out lives to find out."

"Has anyone ever tried?" Quinn was starting to get a bad feeling.

"Yes, a woman named Logan. Strange name is it not? She was determined to harvest all the things of this world for the use of her own people. She was taken care of." Those words set off a visible chain of thoughts in Remmy's head. He joined Quinn on the floor. They locked eyes. One thought shared between them: double.

"I have arranged for a tour. Leah will meet you at the entrance." The fab four exchanged startled glances. On another world a woman named Leah had changed their lives.

"How can I refuse you?"

It took her a minute. Maggie realized they were flirting. Oh. How interesting.

"Eeeew. What is that thing?" Maggie jumped several feet. The thing in question looked like a cross between a snake and a centipede.

"A snake. Do you fear them? Oh dear. Will you be alright for the rest of the tour?"

Maggie mutely nodded her head. Combat, yes. Snakes, no.

Wonders unimagined flowed before their eyes. None of them were aware of how far they had come or how they had come so far. Dinosaurs ate next to lions who sat beside lambs. "...Finally, these are the three trees. The tree of --NOOOOOOOO."

Leah's anguished cry had roused the Garden. A man reminiscent of Wade stood munching on a piece of fruit. A Logan double had her arms wrapped around him, encouraging him to eat more. As the fab four stood helpless others arrived and also began eating the fruit. Not all of them though.

By the time sunset touched the center of the Garden, two groups stood on opposite sides of the Trees. Those who had eaten had hastily donned garments made from leaves. The others, tears streaming. waited.

Then God spoke. Quinn felt as though he should hide. Maybe this was his fault. He hadn't done anything to stop them from eating.

Maggie nudged him in the ribs. One look at her reminded him it wasn't his fault. He wasn't Logan.

Somehow in the darkness things had been resolved. None of the sliders were quite sure how. The Garden was gone. Within it were the majority of those who had not eaten of the fruit. A few like Leah had chosen to stay. The rising sun's rays saw two groups still divided, this time the Sons of Man stood intermixed in both groups.

"How do we survive?" Not surprisingly, it was the man who had eaten from the tree first.

"We learn from our neighbors." Leah looked at Oak. "And we choose to live our lives the way we see fit. I chose to come into exile because I do not have a mate. I have always known it would be Oak or no one. Now I choose to partner with him according to the laws of his people."

Leah and Oak were not the only mixed couple to be paired that day. In all there were twelve couples. The wedding feast--Maggie could think of it in no other terms--was melancholy at best. In her mind a sign of future trouble. She knew they had nine months left on this strange world and she quickly realized the need for a private conference with her fellow sliders.

"Well, what do we do?"

"Quinn, I know a great deal about farming. We could save them some aggravation by helping them."

"Colin, we shouldn't interfere."

"I can't believe you're finally opting for noninterference, boy. You interfered in worlds that don't need our help as much as these people do. I think what's really bothering you is that Logan's double--your double got him to eat from the tree."

"Woah. Hold up. What double? How is that woman your double?"

"It's a long story girl. Maybe it's time Quinn shared it."

"We landed in a subway tunnel..."

Hours later Quinn finally wrapped the story up. "...so I punched in the wrong coordinates. She fired at Wade just as she was pulled into the vortex. The bullet got pulled into the vortex with her."

"Did you sleep with her? Sorry. Scratch that. Okay, what are we going to do?"

Quinn and Colin had been busy as well. Colin had worked with the farmers and food gatherers of Sanctuary to develop farming techniques that fit with this style of living. They now had plows, herds, threshing devices and much more thanks to Colin's knowledge. He had spent a great deal of time and energy in helping them not only plant and harvest, but protect their investments. He and Maggie had spent hours convincing the citizens of Sanctuary to build a massive stone wall surrounding the land they cared for. Thanks to Quinn and Oak's ingenuity Sanctuary had a large wall protecting all of its investments. They had escape routes in case of disaster and now they had a healing center.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH." The screams echoed within the walls of the compound. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH."

Maggie knew she was witnessing history. After much discussion, the sliders had hypothesized that, on this world at least, humans as they knew them were a cross between two races.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"That one was longer. Is she okay?" Maggie and Leah had once again become fast friends. She now looked imploringly at her fellow sliders, needing to know Leah wouldn't die here too.

"Look, a Healer." Colin pointed to the man carrying a squealing, screaming bundle.

"My people, the first of the new ones. Leah and Oak have named their son Enoch."

Everyone cheered. So many hopes had rested on this one pregnancy. Five other women in the crowd rubbed their protruding bellies with relief.

"This is some information we put together that might help you in the future."

"Thank you, gentlemen. May the Maker be with you always."

"Goodbye." With that a vortex opened and one by one the fab four entered.

"I wonder where they'll end up next?"

"I wonder too Leah." Arm in arm the couple walked back inside the walls of their home.