The vortex opened and TemporalFlux, Brand_S and HunterD_Raven slid in from another dimension, only to belly flop into a large metallic box. The three tried to stand up, but Hunter found himself, or rather, his sword, stuck to the bottom of the container. No matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't lift it off the ground. TF was having a hard time keeping the timer from slamming to the floor as well. He checked how much time they had."Oh shit!" TF cried. The magnetic field had played havoc with the timer's electronics. The numbers were cycling out of control and the device started to warm up in TF's hand. "Guys, we've got a major problem here!"
S looked at the timer. His jaw dropped. "How do we fix that?" he asked. TF could feel the timer become excruciatingly hot. Finally, he dropped it to the floor. The magnetic pull of the field was so great that the time broke into pieces when it collided with the floor.
"We can't!" TF replied. Hunter, who wasn't paying attention, was still trying to lift his sword up. Suddenly, the magnetic field shut off and Hunter tumbled backwards, slamming into the metal wall.
"What was that about the timer?" Hunter asked. He looked at the floor and saw the broken machine. "Never mind," he groaned.
One of the walls of the box they were in unlatched at the top and dropped to the ground like a ramp. TF picked up the pieces of the timer and put them in his pockets as the others peeked outside. A door at the end of the room opposite the ramp slid open.
A small number of men and women in suits and lab coats poured into the brightly lit room. Most of them were unrecognizable, but the trio recognized two of them immediately: Chaser9 and EustiSlider. The two walked to the front of the crowd and the sliders caught a better look. Chaser9 was dressed in business attire and looked like he stepped off of the cover of GQ. EustiSlider, on the other hand, was wearing a lab coat and looked rather disheveled.
Chaser took a few more steps forward and reached out to give the closest slider, Brand_S, a handshake. "Welcome to our Earth!" S, a little dazed, reached out and shook Chaser's hand.
"What's going on here?" S asked.
"I'm Chaser9, CEO of the Interdimensional Research & Technologies Foundation. Over there in the lab coat is our head research scientist, EustiSlider." Chaser gestured to Eusti, who raised his hand in a short wave.
"What was with the magnetic field?" TF asked.
Chaser continued his explanation. "We set up this room in our Headquarters to allow anything traveling into this dimension to be pulled here."
"Your magnetic field broke our timer," TF replied.
"Is that what you traveled here with?" Chaser asked. The sliders all nodded. "I'm really sorry about that." He turned to Eusti and glared at him.
"Sorry," Eusti said, half-smirking. "It had been so long since we set this room up that the men I had monitoring the equipment slacked off. You're the first ones to travel here that we know of since we set this room up. I could have my assistants try to fix your timer, or build you a new one if you're intent on leaving this Earth."
"That was the plan," Hunter said.
Eusti walked up to TF and retrieved the timer parts from him. Eusti looked over TF and gave some thought. "What's your name?" he asked.
TF realized that neither he nor the others had introduced themselves. "TemporalFlux," he replied. "The one with the sword is HunterD_Raven, and that's Brand_S."
Chaser thought for a moment, and then shrugged it off. "You'd better get to work on that timer, Eusti. We don't want to keep our guests waiting."
"Yes, yes," Eusti agreed. He turned around and walked out of the room, followed by the people in lab coats.
Chaser turned to the other Suits. "You all get back to work. I'm going to have a chat with these three." Soon, the only people in the room were S, Hunter, TF and Chaser. Chaser learned all about the various adventures of the trio, from the encounters with Slider_Sarah's double to the peculiar time they had on Nude World, though Hunter, S and TF kept several of the more colorful details of that particular slide to themselves.
"Wow!" Chaser was amazed. "I didn't realize how different some of the alternate dimensions could be!"
"So what exactly does your Foundation do?" S asked.
"We research methods of dimensional travel, theorize on how many dimensions there are, try to develop ways to make the travel both practical and worthwhile. There's not much point in going to another dimension if you have no reason to be there."
"Where do you get funding for this stuff?" TF asked.
"The government helped out a bit," Chaser explained. "Once Eusti had some solid theories and I put up some capital, a lot of other research firms and universities came to us, wanting to help. Everyone on this world is really interested on where this might lead." Chaser looked at TF and thought for a moment. "You know, if I remember right, when I first met Eusti and he told me about what he was working on, he said he had a partner named TemporalFlux."
"What happened to him?" TF asked.
"I don't know. From what Eusti told me, the two had a falling out. Apparently, Eusti's theories were starting to bloom, but TF's work kept coming up as a bust. Even though the two had been partners, it always sounded rather one-sided."
TF was a bit surprised at this. Then again, it was perfectly logical. Not even all of Quinn's doubles on Sliders hit the scientific jackpot.
"Mind if I give you a tour of the place?" Chaser offered.
A few minutes later, the three were wandering through the hallways of the complex. From what Chaser had told them, the Headquarters building had been completed for the most part last January, but Eusti and his staff had been working on finishing some high-end equipment in the lowest levels of the structure. The building was pyramid shaped, with Chaser's office at the top, followed by the executive and accounting offices, some low-tech theoretical research labs, staff facilities and lobby. The major laboratories were underground.
"Can you tell us about the labs down there?" TF asked.
"Not really," Chaser replied. "I don't go down there very often because I'm the business end, not the scientific one. That's Eusti's department. Most everything researched down there is highly classified anyway. Even though you're from another dimension, you aren't allowed access down there."
A ring came from Chaser's jacket. "Hold on." Chaser pulled his cell phone out and put it to his ear. "Hello? Eusti? You say you've fixed it? OK, hold on, we'll be right down." The sliders whooped it up at the news. The four ran for the central elevator.
"Sub Basement 3," Chaser said as the doors closed. The elevator responded and began its descent. "Eusti told me that as soon as the timer was repaired, it started counting down from an hour. Is that how long until the portal can be opened?"
"Yep," Hunter replied. "But why are you letting us down there?"
"Eusti said he wanted to talk to you three. If he wants you down there, I can't object."
The elevator came to a halt and the four passengers filed out. Eusti was waiting for them outside the elevator. He was holding the timer.
"Here you go," Eusti handed the timer back to TF. It had been streamlined and looked far less clunky than the monstrosity TF had originally built.
"It's an improvement," S said.
"The main functions are the same," Eusti explained. "The new casing is more durable as well. We tried putting a geospectrum stabilizer in it, but it had been used in its previous state so much that the stabilizer only kept the timer from working."
"That's alright," TF said. "At least it's working again. Thanks a lot!"
"Yeah, thanks, Eusti!" Hunter said.
"Ditto!" S continued.
"Your welcome, but I really should thank the three of you as well."
"Really?" S said, surprised. "Why is that?"
"A couple of equations and adjustments that we found in your timer, once it was repaired, are going to allow us to put the finishing touches on the equipment down here shortly," Eusti said, excited. "The lab will be fully operational in a matter of minutes!"
"Glad we could help!" TF said. After a brief pause, he spoke again. "Chaser here mentioned something about my double being your partner a while back. Whatever happened to him?"
"What? Oh, so that's why you looked familiar!" Eusti said. "Yes, actually I do know what happened to him." Eusti paused; the room was silent, waiting for his answer.
"Well?" Hunter asked. "What happened?"
"I killed him, of course."
TF, Hunter, S and Chaser all fell backwards in surprise. "WHAT?" They all shouted.
"Well, it was only natural that I had to kill him," Eusti said. "His research was so far ahead of mine, that if I didn't kill him, he might have been the one standing here instead of me."
"What kind of idiot are you?" S asked. "You just confessed that you murdered someone to FOUR people!"
"Three people."
"What?"
Eusti a gun from his lab coat and quckly shot Chaser twice. The sliders stood back in shock as Chaser dropped to the floor, lifeless. "Shit!" S shouted.
Hunter drew his sword. "Now YOU'RE dead!" However, before Hunter could charge Eusti, the ground started to shake."
"An earthquake?" TF shouted.
"No," Eusti said. "The completion of my greatest work! I'll transport this entire complex to another dimension!"
"Why would you do that?" S asked.
"Think about the applications!" Eusti said, ecstatically. "Entire military bases taken to other dimensions to conquer them! When I sell this technology to the government, I'll be rich!"
The building began rising off the ground. Over a two-way radio in Eusti's jacket, a voice crackled, "30 minutes to transport, Sir!" Eusti held the gun to S as he replied into the radio. "Excellent. Continue with the countdown."
"Eusti," TF said. "What do you think will happen if open a vortex big enough to transport this building is opened above the city?"
"There are dangers inherent in every experiment. Besides, nothing not directly involved in or doesn't pose a danger to the experiment is no concern of mine." Eusti backed away from the group to a security door. "You three on the other hand, are a major threat!" Eusti opened the door with his key card.
Hunter, coming to his senses, chased after Eusti and slashed at him. Eusti tried to fire, but his gun was knocked out of his hand. As Eusti fell backwards through the door, he dropped his security key. Hunter wasn't fast enough to catch Eusti before the door closed between them.
"Damn it!" Hunter said.
A voice over the intercom spoke out. "Twenty-five minutes until transportation."
TF checked the timer. It read that they still had thirty-four minutes.
"We need to get out of here before this place slides, or the timer will be useless!"
"What do we do?" S asked.
Hunter saw the key card lying on the floor. "Maybe we can still stop it!" He snatched the key card and slid it through the lock. The door opened and the three sliders ran through. They entered a hallway lined with doors.
"Shit, he could be anywhere!" Hunter shouted. They ran to the first door on their left and kicked it down together. It was a monitoring room.
"Yes!" S shouted. He ran to the console and punched the monitoring Labcoat before he could call for help. S looked at the monitors. Most of them monitored activity down in the Sub Basement, but there was one in particular that S found troubling. It was an exterior shot from the roof of the building. The beginnings of a gigantic vortex were forming right above them.
"Guys," S said. "We're in some deep, deep shit."
![[ BBSA ]](bbsa.gif)
![[ Back to Gate Haven ]](pv.gif){kind=small}