Eye of God (III)
Episode: A12	By: Nobuyuki	Date: 8/6/00	URL: 2326/22505
TemporalFlux, Brand_S and HunterD_Raven stood in the middle of a desert, staring into the sky at the massive vortex hovering over the rundown village nearby. After a few minutes, the bottom of the complex slowly made its way out of the portal. The sliders couldn't believe it. "What are the chances of that?" S said. "Did that thing follow us?" The three stood, pondering the situation. "Wait a minute," TF slowly started to form an idea into his head. "Eusti used the timer to put the finishing touches on his sliding equipment. Maybe when he did that, the random variables in the building's sliding machine could have synchronized with our own." Hunter and S couldn't believe it. "So, does that mean that where ever we go, Eusti would follow us?" Hunter asked. "Not necessarily. His machine could probably take him home and be set for specific coordinates. Of course, I could be wrong and we might have just ended up together from blind stupid luck." The three looked towards the town. They could see debris and small pieces of buildings flying up towards the vortex, but nothing as massive as a human was seen flying. The trio ran the hundred-yard dash towards the village. Most of the buildings were decrepit and abandoned, but towards the center of the town, there was a lot of activity. People were running in and out of buildings and down the streets like headless chickens. The sliders took another look from right below the vortex. The bottom of the complex was slowly dropping from the sky. "TF," S began, "Do you know how much longer before it's all the way here?" "No, should I?" TF replied sarcastically. Suddenly, a woman running like hell knocked him to the ground. Hunter and S helped the pair up. "I'm sorry," the woman began. She took a closer look at the three. "You're not from around here, are you?" "Uh, no," Hunter replied. As he looked at the woman, he thought for a moment, and then was startled by a realization. While this woman was dressed pretty raggedly with her eyes covered by goggles, he was able to recognize her. "dellyone?" "What?" dellyone replied. "How do you know me?" S jumped in to explain. "Listen, we're from an another Earth," he said. S then pointed up towards the massive vortex. "We came here through a smaller one of those. A maniac rigged an entire building to transport over here. You see that? That's the bottom of it coming out right now." Obviously, dellyone was shocked by all of this, or rather would have been shocked had she not already had the crap surprised out of her. "So what are you going to do about it?" "That's what we don't know," TF said. He looked up, saw the building hovering closer to the ground and guessed it was about halfway out of the portal. "We'd need to get up there, first." "I've got a plane," dellyone said. "You're a pilot?" Hunter asked. "More like an inventor," dellyone explained. "I built the plane out of spare parts." "Lead the way," TF said. dellyone led the way to a small strip of land outside of the village. TF gazed at the timer. "We're here for a little over a day, guys," he said. When they reached the plane, they saw that a cloth that was tied down to the ground covered it. "Help me get this cover off," dellyone said. The sliders did as she asked; however, the strange shape of the sheet's bulge puzzled them. When the sheet was removed, the befuddlement became even greater. The "plane," as dellyone had called it, looked like a cross between a WWI biplane, a gyrocopter, a hanglider and Da Vinci's flying machine. It had three seats, and they all looked like Human Waste Class airline seats. "What do you think?" dellyone asked. "Well," Hunter started. "It's...uh," TF's draw dropped and hung open. "I...can't really say I've seen anything like it," S said. "This thing actually flies?" dellyone hesitated. "Actually, I haven't tested it yet." The sliders hit the ground in disbelief. "We're gonna die!" TF said. "Oh relax," dellyone said. "It's not the first flying machine I've built." This comment brought a little relief to the sliders. "Of course, the others all crashed a few minutes after takeoff." The relief left the trio quickly. Before they knew what was going on, dellyone had pushed Hunter and TF into the passenger seats and was dragging S into the pilot's seat. S tried to crawl out of the chair, but dellyone just clunked him on the head repeatedly until he gave in and sat down. "Why do I have to fly this thing?" S asked. "Why not?" dellyone replied. S started to wonder if all of the doubles of the people he knew were eccentric. dellyone dropped to the ground and ran to the propeller. "CONTACT!" she yelled as she pulled down on the propeller. S reluctantly pushed the ignition switch. "We're doomed," he groaned. As the plane lurched forward, dellyone gave the sliders the thumbs up and waved goodbye with a grin only an evil genius could envy. This did amuse the trio one bit. They turned their attention back to the plane itself. "S?" Hunter yelled over the propeller. "Do you know how to fly?" "Know how to fly? Shit, Hunter, I think I've played enough video games to figure it out!" An ominous cloud of doom formed in the minds of TF and Hunter. S accelerated the plane and messed with the controls. The strange mass of buttons, dials, levers and cranks was overwhelming, but he managed to figure out how to get the beast off of the ground. After fifteen minutes of going in circles, the plane left the ground. The flight started off turbulently as the plane jerked through the air like a drunken ballet dancer with a sprained ankle. The three felt as if they were going to be sick. Slowly, they rose to the sky, the flight gradually becoming smoother. Eventually, the ballet dancer's ankle healed and her drunkenness gave way to a hangover. The sliders looked off to their right. They were about even with the middle of the pyramid. S swerved the plane towards the building and slowly pulled it up next to a large window. Hunter carefully pulled himself from his seat and crawled along the wing towards the glass. Suddenly, a gust of wind came up, jerking the plane and sending Hunter right through the window, shattering it. TF then crawled out of his seat and moved towards the window in the same fashion, but managed to jump before the plane helped him. He landed safely inside the building, landing on top of a dazed Hunter. S looked for something to prop the controls with. He found a wrench under his seat and jammed it into the flight stick. He made the same careful trek across the plane, but as he reached the end of the wing, the plane tipped towards the left, sending S's end up. He crawled like mad and leaped for the window, landing one foot on the sill. He stooped, precociously balanced in the window when TF pulled him inside, landing on top of him and Hunter. "OW!" Hunter yelled. "Like we don't get enough of this when we slide!" The trio stood up and looked around. They were in a small lab room with a couple of computers, a blackboard and some tables with minor science equipment sitting on top. Most everything looked fairly disheveled from the slide. The sliders looked back to the window. The plane had dropped almost out of view, just a speck falling towards the ground. They were trapped inside. "Let's get moving," TF said. The trio walked out of the lab and into the hallway. They walked around randomly, but couldn't find anyone. "Where is everybody?" Hunter asked, rubbing a cut on his face he received from the window. "Maybe they all went to a different floor," S guessed. "Let's find the elevator." "We can't use that," TF said. "A voice command is needed to get to the basement." "OK," S replied. "Let's find the stairs, then." The trio walked down several hallways before they came to the stairway entrance. "Let's go," Hunter said as he entered the door. "Christ!" S said, "It's like we're running around the Death Star!"