• • •

"I can't believe it, my work has progressed" an african american woman states, with Joe walking over to her, "excuse me, but who are you, and what the hell were you doing in our portal?"

"its quite easy to explain, I'm a scientist, and I managed to blend your Quinn Mallory with the one we had with us"

"this feels really weird, but I think its cool" Quinn looks himself over to see no change, then walks over to Maggie, "so babe, are you available anytime?" Maggie punches Quinn, leading for him to fall and grab his head, saying "I can't handle this, we can't survive as one person"

"why did you do this?" Ryan asks

"well heres my problem, when my Quinn got amnesia, and now acts stupid as ever, I thought I could track another wormhole's trail, hoping I could trace a Quinn Mallory DNA strand, leading us to get the new Quinn to help us find a way home"

-The group decides to head to the Concord Hotel and figure everything out. The woman introduces herself as Diana Davis, and the other 2 men, Darren Mozart and Robert Powell. When getting 2 rooms, they all head to the sliders room.

"okay, let us get this straight, you want our Quinn to help you get home"

"yes, but we have a problem, I never knew how to unmeld the 2 Quinns even after we got home. You may have to leave your friend and when we get home, I can try to separate him and send him on his way"

"I don't think so, we must stick together for this long journey ahead, so theres no way we plan on leaving Quinn with a group of strangers"

"maybe theres something we can do, just join us on our journey, and you can be a part of this group"

"it would be the obvious solution, but this is going to sidetrack our original mission, which is to locate 3 lost friends"

"you know, you should of figured the melding issue before it happened"

"I didn't know that this Quinn had companions with him. My device could only detect Quinn Mallory's signature"

"you know guys, I'm the one with the problem, I should be able to decide what we do. I think this is cool, but I'm not sure I can help you guys get home. I know I can go home at anytime, but my love, Wade Welles is gone, so I need to find her to have a future"

"Quinn, maybe its a good idea to look at our timer, and possibly help"

"Darren, does your timer has a tracking thingamajig?"

"We don't have a tracking device, if thats what you mean"

"Well I think I'm going swimming then I can fix the problem. So Joey, when do we travel again?"

"Its Joe, don't ever call me Joey, or you'll be laying in a morgue. We depart in 56 hours"

"Okay, well whose coming. Or maybe no one should come, since I may meet a girl and we could, you know, do it" Quinn laughs, and the sliders figure this other Quinn is taking over their Quinn's head.

Later that night, Quinn has been able to take control, even though at certain periods of time throughout the entire day, he gets distracted by television or food. He, along with Darren, Robert and Jess who stayed in the slider's room to work with the timer, while Joe, Maggie, Ryan and Dr. Davis works on splitting the 2. At the university science lab, Joe is able to break in, without letting the alarm go off.

"okay, get to it doc, we may have only a few minutes or an hour at most"

Dr. Davis sits down to find a manual on the equipment. "first of all, we'll need as much power as I did to do this in the first place. My equation could easily be reversed to possibly reverse this situation"

"I know your not our best friend at this point, but why didn't you just try locating an alternate Quinn on the many earths you visited"

"Maggie, its easy to explain. We had landed on an earth, and my Quinn was about ready to advance the timer with a tracking device, to track wormholes, but on our way to Motel 14, a car came out of no where, and Quinn ended up getting on top of it, and gets knocked unconscious. We thought he was dead, then we found out he had amnesia. I felt that I was the sole scientist on this trip. So I figured if it was possible to find an alternate Quinn, who created transdimensional technology and could help us. But we traveled to almost 40 worlds, and out of the Quinns we met, there were 4 who created sliding, but 3 of them used us, for their work, and the other was killed, the night he was going to put the device in. So I calculated we were basically with an original smart Quinn, while statistically, all his doubles and even possibly himself were the dumbest people to ever walk the face of their earths. I then divised a plan that if I could meld our Quinn with a duplicate Quinn who was already sliding, leading to our Quinn to get his memories back, which would have him smart enough to assist us and I figured he would be smart enough to even unmeld himself with the double. I guess that was a lie to believe in"

Ryan then walks up to her, "we probably would of did the same thing, if we were that desperate, but we still have a problem you are anyone else can't fix"

Back in the room, Quinn sits at the table near the window in the room. He has taken his timer apart, along with the others timer. Robert and Darren sit across from him, as Jess sits in front of the television, and drinking a soda.

"I guess I need to buy a few parts, since your timer would obviously need a tracking device. So I would just have to clone our device, and then you can be on your way"

"fine with us. We just got pulled into this trip. Most of the time, we blame our Quinn, or if you can already hear us, we blame you"

"well your Quinn is here, but I feel the most dominant, but you shouldn't blame your Quinn for all of this, at least your not all dead, and besides, you probably have enjoy this trip more than you think"

"Quinn, it may look that way sometimes, but when we both got wound on in this experiment, accidently, we really just want to be home, and you wouldn't be surprised of how many times we were near deaths door"

Jess ask Quinn to continue working, or he would get side tracked. Quinn continues to look over the parts of the timer, then writing up a list, "So besides all the hate towards your Quinn, what good adventures have you went through. I guess I'm always interested in other people's stories"

Darren speaks up, "not much to tell, we have been sliding for 3 years, and we are still here, hoping the next world will take us home"

"What Robert is really trying to say, is we have not been getting good luck lately. I mean ever since our Quinn got amnesia, Diana just wants to get us home. I figure she feels responsible for us"

"thats the way I've been feeling lately. I got 3 friends taken for a wild ride, but I got one of them killed, and I've seen a few good people I've known leave us"

At the lab, Dr. Davis gets the power generator to work, and establishes a stable field in the stasis chamber, "well now we need to test it. I think Quinn should do the trick, with a few minor adjustments"

"so lets just get him, and we can get on with things"

"one problem. It seems this stability will remain in effect for only a few minutes. So we will have to try this again tomorrow night, unless we get caught"

"well its settled. We can bring Quinn here and then split the 2"

"well, we have another problem. With my calculations, there is a 50% chance Quinn might not get unmelded with yours. I said I could create enough power to split cells apart, that doesn't mean I can save the 2, without killing one off. We may have to choose to decide which Quinn to save"

By the next morning, Quinn had returned to the other groups room, along with Ryan, with the parts for building the tracking device. Maggie and Joe sit, drinking coffee with Darren and Dr. Davis.

"So, I guess you all returned kind of late last night"

"Yeah, we had a few problems to deal with before moving ahead with our plans"

"Well I can tell this other Quinn is quite a genius, but what I found odd, is that why isn't either of us the dominant person, but instead 2 of us as one with 2 minds"

"I guess that was a miscalculation for my experiment"

"So Quinn, hows our timer coming along?"

"Darren, calm down man, we can fix this problem with our timer, and I know we can get home soon"

Quinn takes a seat at a table, he starts building a device, while the others watch, "do you mind. I guess I feel intimidated by having you around, or your double"

"Well you got us stuck together, what do you expect"

"Quinn, I feel I should be the one to tell you this. Last night, I calculated that when we split the 2 of you apart, its likely that one of you will die" Quinn stops working on the timer, he looks into Diana Davis's eyes, "what!"

"Calm down Quinn, we need to speak in a rational way"

"You did this to me. Now its likely one of us will die. You screwed this experiment up, all because of a personal vandetta"

"I know I should of made sure how to do the experiment, forwards and backwards"

"well its too late now, isn't it lady!"

"Quinn, don't blame her for this. Like I said earlier, I would of did the same thing if that meant we got home" Quinn gets up from his chair, heads to the door, "I'm heading out for a walk. I guess we'll have to deal with this later. But all I can say, I hope your Quinn dies, since he was part of your group" Quinn opens the door, exits and slams the door, knocking a picture on the wall to the floor.

Dr. Davis then comments, "I guess he took it better than we expected" she looks back to the others, with none of them smiling at her.

Later that day, the sliders and the others sit around in the sliders room, figuring who should lose a friend.

"I think the best option would be to let Quinn choose"

"but you all know Quinn or any of his doubles would sacrifice themselves to save another"

"Maggie, we know thats true, but this is a different situation"

Jess then begins to talk, "In a way, I feel our Quinn should survive. I mean he is the smart one for us, and with you Dr. Davis as a scientist, your the best chance for your group"

"you think that your Quinn should live, while ours die?"

"Robert, I believe she's right. At least I know what to do in a situation with the timer, if it screws up on a world"

"but what if our Quinn returns to us, losing his amnesia"

"maybe what should happen, is we join as one team, what does everyone think about that?"

"we still would have the problem of over crowding the vortex, and bad things could happen"

"well lets consider the option of just tracking each other's vortex and then we can stay together"

Quinn soon enters, "well, I see your having a group meeting without me. I think I know why. And I've made my decision. I am the Quinn Mallory without memory loss, and with talking to my other self, we feel I would be the best one to save"

"how do we know that your not just lying, and you are fighting for survival" Quinn turns his head left quickly, then back facing the group, "Darren, Rob and Diana, its me Quinn, we know what we're doing, and you can't stop us. Now lets get this thing delt with, so you guys can slide on"

Dr. Davis, Darren, Robert, Joe and Maggie head to the university. Again, Joe gets them in, and Dr. Davis begins starting the machines up. Darren and Robert were able to speak to their Quinn one last time.

Robert speaks first, "I guess we know this is hard to walk away, with knowing your dying and we're sliding on"

"guys, I think this other Quinn will get you home, because I feel I would be worthless to this group, and the other sliders would be hopeless of knowing sliding tech"

"Quinn, I think when we get home, I'll write a song for you, and make sure no one forgets it"

"thanks Darren, you were always a good friend to know, and it was you, who encouraged me to dye my hair blonde, which worked with making me a dumb blonde" Quinn laughs then pats Darren on the back.

"uh guys, I'm ready over here"

Quinn heads to Diana, he hugs her and tells her to get the others home. Dr. Davis tears up, and watches Quinn leave her, Darren and Robert, alone in the multiverse, sliding. Quinn gets into the stasis chamber, and Dr. Davis activates a shield around it. She begins pushing a few buttons, when the alarm goes off.

"I guess our time is up" Joe states, looking at a small red light moving around in a circle on the wall.

"we can't leave now, Quinn is still 2 people"

"shut the system off, we can return another time"

Maggie heads to Joe, who is looking outside of the room, seeing guards heading their way. Dr. Davis tries to shut the stasis chamber off, but is unable to. The guards then arrive, and the group is arrested and are heading to jail, while Quinn is taken to the hospital, after he collapses and hits his head on the floor, when the shield finally comes down.

Back at the hotel, the remaining sliders are sitting in front of the television, the phone rings and its Maggie, "Hey Jess. We have a little problem. We've been captured and are going to trial tomorrow. Quinn has been taken to the hospital, and we have another problem, which is when we slide. Me and Joe both agree that the 2 of you need to get Quinn out of there, and return to the university to save Quinn"

"Okay Maggie, will do. We'll try our best, and if it succeeds, we'll spring you out of jail" Jess hangs the phone up, telling Ryan of the news, and they soon get moving to the hospital.

After arriving to the hospital, Ryan and Jess head to a main desk, where a nurse is sitting, "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Dr. Garber, and I'm here to see a patient, who is being transfered to another hospital"

"I don't recalling someone of your name calling today"

"Well I was called awhile ago, and I was told to get down here immediately"

"just wait here, I'll be right back"

"thank you nurse" the woman exits the desk area, and heads down a corridor, disappearing out of sight. Jess gets behind the counter, and logs into the computer, to locate Quinn.

"this is too simple. He's located in the psychology ward, room 311"

"fine, lets go" Jess also sees keys for each ward, so she grabs the nurse's set, the 2 head to an elevator using the key to open it. After arriving on the 5th level, the 2 search for the room. Back down at the desk, the nurse returns to find the sliders gone, she calls security, and tells them 2 people stole her keys. The nurse hangs the phone up, and pushes a red button under her desk, activating an alarm.

Jess and Ryan hear it an they quickly locate 311. They see a doctor in there with Quinn, who is hooked up to a few machines, "Great, just hope the doctor doesn't think we're the ones the security is looking for"

the doctor finally exits the room, he looks at both of the sliders, then continues walking down to the elevator. Jess and Ryan head in, Quinn is sort of awake, "Quinn, are you able to hear us?"

"I think he's doped up. Lets just take these things off him, and lets go" the 2 carry Quinn out the door, they start to head for the elevator, when the doctor stops them,
"hey, what are you doing with him. You can't take him!"

The 3 turn around, heading towards the end of the hall, but are met by security officers, "get them, they're stealing a patient"

Jess finds the laundry shute, "this way"

Ryan punches a security guard as Jess opens the shute, and gets Quinn inside. Jess is then take hold of but she manages to kick the doctor in his face and she quickly enters the shute. Ryan and the other officer struggle, but Ryan manages to knock him down and he quickly enters the shute himself, sliding down a long tube, until he lands in a laundry basket with Quinn and Jess. The 3 take off in a taxi, as security officers exit the hospital, to see they couldn't catch them.

With a few blocks before the university, the sliders were let out. Ryan pays the driver, then the taxi takes off.

"well now its up to you Quinn to do this unmelding situation"

Quinn, who is now fully awaken, speaks "No problem. This is so cool. My memory has returned, giving me double the mind capasity"

"so you don't have amnesia anymore?"

"No. But what I don't get, is where is Dr. Davis, Darren or even Robert"

"Its a long story. We'll tell you what happened after both of you are separated beings"

When arriving at the university, finding it empty, when they figure the police should be around, "I guess this will be easy to get in" Quinn, this time gets them in, with bypassing the password and shorting out the electronic device to hold the door shut. They enter the room; Quinn starts the machines up, as well as activating the stasis chamber.

"well since you both aren't scientists, just make sure these machines don't blow a fuse" Quinn enters the chamber, as the field surrounds the chamber. Lightning bolts come out to hit Quinn in the back, he yells in pain, as 2 separate distinct beings unfuse themselves from one form, then the procedure was over; Quinn and his double stood by each other.

"It worked, I can't believe it" both Quinns say at the same time. Ryan hugs Jess, "we have our Quinn back"

By the following afternoon, at the San Francisco Police Station, the sliders exit, joining up with Jess, Ryan and Quinn. "I guess we got off with no penalties"

"well I can say this. We got our Quinn back, and now, we can try to get home"

"We actually stayed up all night to finish your timer, now you can track wormholes, and we narrowed the ban width so you'll be sliding within a 3 mile radius of your hometown, instead of a 3000 mile radius. You'll be home someday, I know it" Dr. Davis walks over to the sliders Quinn, "I guess I should of realized that no matter who a double of Quinn Mallory was, he would be smart. And I should of gave my Quinn more credibility"

"Just learn from experience, and try to be prepared for the next time one of your experiments go wrong"

"I think I've decided to give up with experimenting. I'll just stick to sliding"

Both groups head to an alley near the police station. Dr. Davis gives her Quinn the timer, with the opening of a green vortex. Darren waves bye to the sliders and enters, Robert does the same. Quinn tells the others to never give up hope of finding their lost friends, since they are out there, somewhere. The double enters, and then Diana leaps into the portal, with it closing shortly after.

"I guess we should return to the hotel and enjoy what we have left of today at the pool"

"Sorry Maggie, but we slide now" Quinn opens the portal, Jess leaps in, followed by Joe, then Ryan; Maggie frowns about this, but then jumps in, followed by Quinn, with the portal closing shortly after.