Vwushut. Thwump. Thwump. Thwump. Thwump. The room is empty except for
one corner of one wall where a set of stereo speakers sit. Music is
issuing forth. “That was DC Talk going Supernatural. This is Joy on the
air with Pirate Radio. Remember Christ is on the air and everywhere. I
have in front of me this morning’s list of martyrs. Allison Aberly,
John Beckett, Leah Beckett, Steven Beckett, Dolores Brown, Van Brown,
Trevor Delere, Peace LaFaith, Hope Livingston, Amanda Mallory, Colin
Mallory, Michael Mallory Snr., Mik Mallory, Kelly Wells, Thomas Wells,
and John Ziller. Just to remind us about where we’re all going here’s
Armageddon with Heaven Is A Wonderful Place.”
The four intruders looked in askance at each other. Each had heard the
name of a loved one from their home worlds. No one had heard his or her
own name. “Maybe we don’t exist on this world?” One of the women spoke
her eyes were haunted and she nervously toyed with her dark red hair.
Neither of the men bothered to reply. One had dark hair and he held his
lean, tall body against a wall trying to affect an uncaring posture.
The other man stood apart both literally and in physical
characteristics. He was dark skinned and older. He had a the look of
someone who had lost too much to go on much further.
The rooms only door opened. A tall black man stood in front of the
four intruders and motioned them to follow. The black woman noticed the
war torn look of everything around her. Whoever these people were they
were refugees. The older man noticed the war torn look of the people he
passed. Each one had the same expression he knew he wore. Too many
loved ones had been torn from their grasp. So far the tour guide had
said nothing. The intruders had no idea where they were headed or why.
All they really knew was that four hours would pass before they could
make good their escape.
After being shuttled into a new room, this one with some furnishings
the group separated into two subgroups. The older man and the red
haired woman seemed to seek comfort in each others company. Neither
spoke, they just waited for the next kick. The other two huddled
quietly across the room. “Do you think they’ll ever be comfortable with
us?”
“I don’t know. Maybe with you. But they still blame me for Quinn. I
swear I will find a way to restore you both.”
“I know Diana. I just wish we had some idea of what we’ve fallen into
on this world.”
The conversation stopped abruptly as the door to the room swung open
again. This time the black man had company. She was a tall, plump woman
in her early twenties. Her brown hair failed to quite brush her
shoulders. Her green eyes surveyed the room and its inhabitants. The
black man acted a a body guard, almost. His blue eyes, Diana started a
bit at that observation--blue-eyed black men weren’t common on her
earth. His hair was confined in a series on small, long braids.
“Welcome to the end times. I am Joy. My silent friend here is Justice.”
“Silent when it suits me. I’m assuming you have questions. We know
that you don’t belong in our dimension. How you got from there to here
I won’t even guess at.”
“I’m Diana and this is Mallory. The two over there--”
“Can speak for themselves. I’m Maggie. He’s Remmy.” She gestured to
the man beside her. All the while glaring at Diana. “What’s going on
here? Are you in the middle of a war?”
“I suppose you could call it that. Let’s see six and a half years ago
an event occurred that rocked the world. Millions of people all over
the globe disappeared. A few of us guessed why immediately.”
“Other of us took a little longer,” Joy gave her partner a genuine
smile. “God had claimed his own. You should have seen the carnage.
Plane and car crashes everywhere. About the only thing that kept
working was the media. You should seen the theories that their tame
scientist started spouting. It was sadly hilarious. King Muhat of New
Babylon seemed to come to the forefront as a world leader. He set up
programs throughout the middle east to keep his people safe and fed.
The rest of the world just lined up and allowed him to take over. It
wasn’t until after he signed the peace treaty with Israel that things
really started to fall apart.”
“Something you learn quickly around here "Aren’t you the one from the
radio?” Mallory figured he might as well get to know this world a
little. He could feel Quinn trying to surface.
“Why yes I am. You caught the end of my show huh?”
“How come you call yourselves Pirate Radio?”
“Mallory, right?” At his nod she kept going, “It’s illegal to be a
Christian right now. In order to practice any sort of commerce or
function in any way in society a person must have a special microchip
implanted. It’s actually called the Beast. In order to receive the
Beast a person has to swear fealty to King Muhat. Since his miraculous
resurrection at the hands of Jedidiah, his right hand man, part of that
fealty includes an oath stating that the Beast bearer believes King
Muhat is God. That’s something none of us can do.”
“You name it and we’ve probably been through it. There was the world-wide
earthquake, the meteorite, the strange bugs that attacked everyone, oh
and we can’t forget about darkness.” Justice put an arm lightly on
Joy’s shoulders. They could both see that these people needed some
serious help. Help they weren’t sure they could give.
“The darkness?” Diana looked a little worried.
“Right. For no reason known to man all of the stars, including our
sun, dimmed by a third.”
“That’s impossible.” Mallory could feel Quinn trying to gain control.
“One thing you learn quickly here is that nothing is impossible. As
for the darkness we view as being the work of God.”
“How can the members of one of the major religions on earth be
persecuted?”
“Remmy, I don’t know about your earth, but on this one shortly after
King Muhat came into power he had Jedidiah unify all of the religions
into one. The only two religions that refused were Judaism and
Christianity.”
“Why would you refuse?”
“Because it's a crock.” Justice decided to jump back into the
conversation.

Maggie had been amazed by what she heard. These people accepted former
enemies into their ranks. They had loved and lost more times than even
Remmy. The amount of kindness they had shown to the sliders sent Maggie
spinning. It was as if they saw a need and had to fulfill it. They had
spent the first couple of hours in a group conversation learning about
this world. Then things had gotten really weird. Joy had taken Maggie
and Rembrandt aside. The conversation was something they would sort out
later. But it had left Maggie and Remmy feeling better about their new
sliding situation. They could find the answers they needed about
Quinn’s state, Wade, and even Colin’s apparent disappearance. Remmy
picked up the timer. “Folks we have less than a minute.”
Mallory had to know before they slid, “if you know about other
dimensions, why don’t you just travel to one?”
“It’s not that easy for us. King Muhat’s Enlighteners control 95% of
the technology in the world. The small amount we have we use to try and
save others.”
“You could come with us.”
“Saving ourselves wouldn’t do any good at this point. We do wish you
well.”
“Your willing to throw away your lives for people you don’t even
know.” Mallory/Quinn sat abruptly at the nodding heads he saw in front
of him.
“We won’t forget you.” Remmy hugged both Justice and Joy as he opened
the vortex. He couldn’t believe the impact those two had on him in just
a few hours. Maggie hugged the duo next. Wiping tears from her cheeks
she jumped into the worm hole. Mallory and Diana also said their
goodbyes, they felt a new confidence.

On another world four travelers exit a vortex. “How long?” One of them
asks as he loses himself yet again.

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