• • •

"great, this looks like the place we first met." "don't remind me of it, you know how annoying-"

"stop before I hit you Jacob."

Michelle looks towards a sign, far from her, "hey, lets go over there." the others soon see the sign reading 3 miles to Bodie Ca.

"fine, lets go, maybe we'll catch a ride into town." After reaching Bodie, the sliders are dropped off from a wagon, Michael thanks the gentleman and his daughter. As they walk on, Joe says

"man, that girl was fine, I should of asked for her address, and we could of gotten in the sack together."

"your sick Joe, you do know that, don't ya?"

"not really Wade, its part of the human experience."

Remmy points out a hotel, so they head to it. Michelle checks them in, while others stare

"I guess we forgot to change clothes." Jacob says.

They get a key, due to less vacancies. Wade collapses to the bed "finally, I can relax with peace and quiet."

"thats going to be tough, look out the window its gold digging season."

"great, just the fun we need, now we can get rich, lets join the crowd."

"easy cheif, we are kinda running out of money. Wade, Michelle, they are hiring at the saloon, maybe you will have to get jobs." the 2 women look towards each other, then Michelle continues the conversation

"sure, its always the women to get the jobs. Fine, if we have to be whores, you will have to get the job in the next world."

"deal." Quinn states.

Down in the general store, Remmy and Quinn are looking for supplies to work with on the dig.

"I can't believe people are obsessed with this, I mean its not like the end of the world."

"well on my world, people always were greedy, so I guess people here are the same."

A young woman, with blonde hair, stares in their direction, but as soon as they look towards her, she looks the other way, "I think you have fan over there. Go and chat, maybe she knows secrets to the location of gold."

Quinn agrees, heading over to the woman "I see that you've been looking towards us. My name is Quinn, whats your?"

"my name is Belle, I just arrived in Bodie. My husband died a few weeks ago, and his last dying wish, was to join the gold rush."

"me and my friend were wondering if you wanted to team up, possibly find gold together?"

"maybe. I'll think about it, possibly over dinner?" Quinn looks surprised, "Um... sure, how about we meet at Cal's Diner, say 7:30?"

"its a date."

At the saloon, Jacob walks in, to see a man beating on Wade. He heads over, punching the man to the floor, "are you ok?"

"thanks Jacob, he nearly tore my dress."

The bartender comes over to them "what in devil is going on?"

"I was attacked by this man, and he saved me." the man looks to Jacob, "thank you kind sir, how about a drink on the house?"

"sure I'd love it."

Joe and Michael are sitting outside in the hotel's lounge/pool area, when a young man appears behind them in the bushes "psss, behind ya, I need your help."

"whats your problem, is someone following you?"

"sorta, I need this map hidden, if you can hold it, for a few days, I'd be appreciative." Joe takes the map, rolling it up, sticking it in his shirt pocket, then the mysterious man disappears.

As night rolls in, Quinn had dressed nicely for dinner, waiting at the diner, when she walks in. Belle sees Quinn, fiddling with a lit up device, as she heads to the table he picked out, he quickly puts the timer in his coat pocket.

"I hope you don't mind we're sitting in the corner, its just I can't take in all that smoke."

"don't mind at all, my husband use to smoke, but stopped after our first child."

"what happened to your child?"

"she was only 4 years, when a stampeed came through town, killing her and 2 older gentlmen. I feel bad, but what can I do."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"its ok, my life was a wreck 7 years ago, but I'm moving on with my life, to join this gold rush and become rich."

The 2 ordered drinks, then dinner, and as Quinn excused himself for the bathroom, Belle pulls a capsule bottle out of her purse, dumping the white powder in his drink.

At the saloon, Wade and Michelle are clearing tables, when the manager's door opens and Cal exits, "thanks for helping ladies, it looks good, go on ahead home."

"ok Cal, see you in the morning." they exit, then an indian exits, "do they know whats going on?"

"no, but I feel sad I have to lose new employees."

"thats the way life is. I just don't want my people to lose all the gold, but your helping, we'll become rich and wealthy."

"I guess we will." Cal shakes the indian's hand, then shuts the lights off as he exits, "by the way, use the back door to exit, I don't want people to think we associate with each other."

Quinn and Belle are walking under the moonlight, "I guess the stars aren't coming out tonight."

"what are stars? do you mean celebs or what?"

"nothing, I was talking crazy, its the alcohol." Quinn suddenly drops to his knees, Belle runs to him

"are you ok?" "no, I feel dizzy, get me back to my hotel room."

"better yet, ltes go to my place, right over here." Belle helps Quinn to her couch, then lights a latern "I feel really hot, maybe I can have some water?"

"sure, be right back."

Quinn then passes out, as Belle returns with a glass of water, "I guess you don't need this, but I know you can give me something."

Belle puts the glass down, then reaching inside Quinn's coat pocket, she pulls out the timer, "amazing, I can't believe he owns on these things too."

The following morning, Quinn wakes to find himself in the desert, with sand flying in his face and the hot sun shining down on him, "man, this can't be happening. At least I still have my clothes."

Quinn feels around for the timer, then hears a wagon nearby. Quinn gets up, to see Remmy, Joe and his dad riding with other gold diggers. Quinn runs to catch up to them, the wagon stops, "Quinn, what are you doing out here?"

"thats a long story, we need to talk."

The driver soon gets mad, "well what are ya doing, get on or you all get off!" Quinn is helped onto the wagon as it takes off. When the wagon arrives, at a top of a steep hill, everyone sees hundreds of miners around

"I guess we should have called for reservations." Joe comments.

The men are dropped off, to walk down the hill, "good luck gentlemen, have a nice day." the driver takes off as the miners head down.

Michael, Quinn, Joe and Remmy begin down the hill, "so whats so important to talk about?"

"the timer, its been stolen. Last night I remember I went to dinner with this woman I met, after we went to her house, since I flet dizzy, I passed out, and then I just woke out here. I'm clueless about getting out here."

"you probably were drunk and got lucky." Quinn looks to Joe with a stupid look.

"we better get back to town. Joe, Remmy, lets go." Michael quickly runs to catch up to the wagon, and they are aloud a ride back to town.

The guys return to Bodie, Quinn gets off, heading to Belle's home. As he knocks on the door, calling out her name, a man across the street, sitting in a rocking chair states that Belle left town, she had a small bag with her

"do you know where she went?"

"not sure, I heard the wagon was heading for the San Fernando Valley." Quinn whispers to himself that it would take days to find her.

"sir, do you know when the next wagon leaves?"

"I say, about 20 minutes." Quinn gets the others in the bar, to talk.

"I'm going to head out, maybe I can find her, and get the timer back."

"you'll need help, she may have others. She may even have a gun."

"Wade, do you wan to come?"

"me, I don't care. Just let me change. Michelle, tell Cal I quit, and collect my earnings."

Several hours later, Quinn and Wade are riding in a stagecoach, when they suddenly stop, they look outward to hear the sound of a vortex opening, and when they get out, the driver is just staring, so after running up a small hill, they see Belle staring at the portal, as she holds the timer.

"she must of drugged you for the timer, now with our only chance to leave, we're stuck here."

the vortex closes as the 2 sliders run down towards her. Quinn grabs a hold of her, while Wade gets the timer, "what in the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. You looked suspicious, so I thought that device would explain why you are here."

"well I guess you made our fate, we're stuck here for the next 29 years."

"lets go back to Bodie, tell the others." Wade shakes her head as they head back to the stagecoach.

By late morning, the stagecoach returns, dropping the 3 off near the hotel. When Quinn, Wade and Belle enter, Joe, Remmy, and Jacob are preparing for the ride to a gold rush sight.

"guys we need to talk." Michael and Michelle enter from the bathroom, "we have a problem, Belle opened the vortex early, last night, and now thanks to her, we're stuck here for the next 29.7 years."

"great, thanks a lot lady, just when I thought my troubles were over. Now I have to deal with someone else thats stupid for getting me stuck on a parallel earth, not of my own origin."

"I once again apologize, but don't blame me, even if you are stuck here for years, this world has many things to discover."

Joe gets upset, and into Belle's face, "for once, I agree with Jacob, you were a bitchy girl, wanting to learn everything about us, now thanks to you, my life is over, never having a chance to get home, get my life back. Next time, just ask!"

Quinn pulls Joe away, "look, as long as we're a group, we have a chance to remain in this town, survive the gold rush, and just maybe, a group of sliders will come and save us."

"by the way, if you don't know your history, on my world Bodie, California became a ghost town, due to the gold rush of 1849."

"then we'll move, if we stick together, we have a chance to survive."

Joe pulls the rolled up map from his bag, "well until things change, I'm off to meet a friend, to find gold, maybe that was what my life was suppose to turn into."

"then, we'll all go, like Quinn said, we're a team." Michelle comments.

Everyone exits, and as Belle heads to her home, Quinn stops her, "what are you doing, aren't you coming with us?"

"me, I thought you all hated me for ruining your lives."

"we are, but if your alone, I can't let that happen. Pack your bags and meet us in a half hour over by the post office."

"ok. Quinn, by the way, thanks for being my friend." Quinn smiles, then turns to join the others.

"so, who is the guy, anyway?"

"I don't know much about him, his name is Robert, and gave me a map to find gold, since he told me, someone was after him."

"do you actually trust this guy, I mean if we are planning to dig for gold, whats to say, he kills us all, stealing our wealth."

"its my instinct. Besides he contacted me last night, said if I wanted to go gold digging, meet him here at noon, and we have 2 minutes to spare."

"actually, that clock is off by 5 minutes."

everyone turns around "Robert, hey, finally nice to meet you face to face, I'm Joe, and these are my friends. I hope you don't mind, but they've decided to join us."

"great, the more the merrier, more money to make. So how about we head out after lunch in Cal's?"

"fine by us." Remmy says.

2 weeks have past, and the group of 9 headed towards Lake Tahoe, to set up camp, to find gold, using pans to find gold, but not much luck was occuring.

"man, I can't believe we're wasting time, doing nothing almost."

"Remmy, don't feel bad, at least we're not being attacked by kromaggs."

Robert then comes near them, "I think we may have to head up river, since last time I was in town, I heard people collecting gold pieces."

They hear a loud yelp, and Robert heads up a hill near camp, to see where the sound was coming from, he is shot in the heart. The others scurry to join each other, and realize, the indians are near.

"we better run for cover now!" Michael yells.

Then the indians seek out the sliders, and shoot arrows, hitting Joe in the leg, but Jacob doesn't make it, he is hit in the head with an arrow that was torched in fire "No!" Wade wants to return to try to help Jacob, but Remmy holds her back.

"girl, if we go out there, we're going to be goners too."

Joe stumbles to the others location "I need help!"

"calm down Joe." Quinn says

"let me help, I was a nurse, during the battle of '39." Belle has Joe lay down, and she pulls a towel out of her purse, "Quinn, hold pressure. Joe, this is going to hurt." Belle begins to pull the arrow out, as Joe screams and wimpers."

Michelle sees indians arriving near the entrance of the cave, "guys, we better go now, they're here."

"we can't move Joe now."

"we have no choice, I'll carry him, lets take the back way out. I found an opening on the other side, I had the wagon set there, in case of this."

The others go ahead, as Quinn and Belle carry Joe to the wagon. Wade and Michael get th horses moving, as everyone setteles in, but the indians have caught onto their tracks. Arrows are flying towards the wagon, missing the group.

"we're useless. Wait a minute, I think Robert had guns stashed under here."

As Belle looks after Joe, Quinn, Michelle, and Remmy are firing the guns. Some indians are hit, but most are riding on.

Wade suddenly sees indians heading the direction their going, "Mr. Mallory, look, their surrounding us!"

"then take a gun, we have no choice, but to defend ourselves!"

Michelle fires, hitting the chief indian, then another indian lights a stick of dynamite, sticks it to an arrow, launching it, Quinn sees it, "dad, turn right!" but its too late, the wagon is blown up with pieces of everthing flying in all directions.

A group of indians show, alongside a man covering his face, an indian speaks to his men in native american language, "there dead, now we can return to retrieve our gold."

the indians look to the man "Good work Cal, nice doing business with you."

"you too Susquashia." the other group of indians that were heading towards the front of the sliders arrive, and Susquashia tells them to join the others.

The sun begins to set, as everyone rides off, then a vortex opens, tossing the real sliders out near the crash sight. Wade gets up to see destruction.

"this is terrible, what happened?"

"probably an attack of some kind, my guess indians. Look at the arrows."

Jacob walks over to a body, to discover its Joe, "this is freaky, this guy is Joe, I mean his double."

"what about everyone else, do you think they were our doubles?"

"don't know Quinn, the body parts are dismantled and scattered."

"how long until we slide?" Remmy asks Michael.

"we slide in 23 minutes, 30 seconds."

"thank god, I would freak, if I knew what really happened here." Michelle comments.