The Otherworlds » Earth 1014 » Season One » Pilot, Part 1

- In a San Francisco Basement. We see a young man in his early twenties through the lens of a video camera. He is speaking fast and irrational. "Oh my god! It was great. You should have seen it! Right here! It was right here, this . . . thing this weird . . thing . . . this big, blue, weird thing . . was right here . . . right here!" A female voice is heard from the background, "QUINN!!!!" The young man looks directly at the camera and speaks, "I think I just knocked out the power." "Pilot, Part 1" by Chaser9 - Quinn Mallory was jarred awake by the sound of his radio. The wonderful Day Tripper show was playing. Tripper was quite possibly the most annoying man in radio, but at this point and time Quinn could hardly care less. He had a million thoughts racing through his head. - Quinn walked into the kitchen and spoke, "Gotta fly, Mom, I've got a million things to do." Quinn's mother looked at him and spoke, "Eat." Quinn cracked a smile and grabbed some toast. "I swear, you are just like your father. Up all night, working crazy hours and look what happened to him. He worked himself to death." Quinn looked at his mother strangely and spoke, "Mom, Dad was hit by a car." She replied, "But he was on his way to work. That's my point. He always had too much on his mind." Quinn replied, "Better than too little." Quinn's mother looked at him strangely and spoke, "Isn't that the same shirt you had on yesterday?" "What? I took a shower. It smells fine." "There is a clean pile of laundry on the dryer, now march up to the laundry room and get another shirt." "I was wondering when you were going to get to that? And when are you going to make up my room," Quinn said humorously. "Careful, two more semesters and I'm turning this place into a bed and breakfast." "I've got dibs on the basement," Quinn replied. "That's the only reason you're not out on the streets now. It would take months just to get rid of all that junk!" - Quinn walked down into the basement. He put a video tape labeled Diary-September into the VCR and it began to play. Quinn appeared on the screen, "September 13. In my attempts to create the world's first anti-gravity machine, I have stumbled across an incredible discovery. Antigravity, no, but something else? Definitely." The Quinn on the video tape adjusted the controls in his hands and a swirling vortex like object appeared. "But what?" Quinn advanced the tape a little and began watching again. "September 21. I've discovered that the mouth of the 'tunnel' is quite possibly a gateway to some other existence." Quinn's mother's voice was heard in the background, "Quinn, don't you have class today?" Quinn jumped up, shut off the VCR and ran up the stairs. - Quinn's mother was looking at a picture of Quinn, his father and her. She spoke, "I worry about him, Michael." Quinn walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" "I'm having a private conversation with your father." "Tell him I said hi." Quinn's mother shook her head as Quinn walked out the door. - Quinn was sitting in class. Professor Maximilian Arturo was speaking on some random theory or the other, Quinn was listening, but he was still thinking about the "tunnel" or vortex. Where did it lead? "Mr. Mallory! I have been a professor of physics for a great many years now and pride myself on my ability to convey the material. Would you at least do me the common courtesy of pretending that you are paying attention." Arturo directed his attention to a long haired "stoner" character in the back of the room. "Mr. Bennish, the answer is . . . " As Arturo begins to speak the answer Quinn is giving a hand signal for it to the guy across from him. "U4. That's U4. No to be confused with U2." Bennish laughed a little at that and Arturo spoke, "We will continue next time, class, and some participation would be appreciated." - Quinn, Bennish, and another young man named Wing were walking down the staircase from the class. Another girl from the class approached them and spoke, "You know, Professor Arturo isn't nearly as smart as he makes himself out to be." Quinn responded, "Are you kidding, the man should have a Nobel Prize alone for his theories on spatial anomalies and bisynchronous wormholes." she replied, "Is that on the reading list?" Quinn replied, "No, just some light reading." - Quinn pulled into the parking lot of the Doppler Computer store. It was affectionately referred to as computer hell. He walked in the door and saw Wade Welles. She was talking to some suits. Probably a company looking to buy some new computers for their firm or something. "Look, in a months time these MX-480's will be obsolete. There's no reason to drop 20 grand on this system. My advice is wait a month, the new MX-680 will be out, it's closer to what you're looking for," Wade said. The businessman nodded his head, "Thank you for your help. We'll be back." Wade saw Quinn walk past her and followed him, "Hey Quinn!" He turned around, "Hey Wade, what can I do for you?" "I got those hockey tickets. My ex-boyfriend had some connections. He was actually jealous. Thought I was going on some hot date." Quinn wasn't really paying attention to what Wade was saying and she noticed this. "Wade!" Quinn and Wade turned around to see Hurley, the manager of this Doppler Computer store. "Uh-oh, Mr. Computer is on the warpath," Wade said. "Ah, Mallory, decided to join us today. And look, only ten minutes late. Wade, $20,000 just walked out the door." "So? They'll be back next month and spend $50,000 on the 680's." "She's right, Hurley. I told you not to order those 480s. Every single hard drive has crashed." "Excuse me, last time I checked, I didn't pay you to think and I was still running this place. So, Wade, let's make sure what happened today doesn't happen again." - Quinn was in the basement watching his diary again. "September 23. I've developed a timer device. It enables me to send objects into the void and have them return at a certain time. I started small, paper airplane, my dino, basketball and all of the objects returned like clockwork, but I'm still no closer to what's on the other side." Quinn walked over to the camera and turned it on, "September 26. Still no closer to discovering what's on the other side of the void. The logical choice would be to send the camera, but the magnetic pulse form the vortex shorts it out. I considered sending Schrodinger - first cat into the void - but if anything happened to him, I could never forgive myself. So tomorrow morning, I, myself, will step through the gate and finally see what's on the other side." - Quinn Mallory started the video camera, "September 27. In mere moments I will step into the void. I don't anticipate any problems, but just in case. Mom, if you're seeing this, I love you, and don't worry about me. Wherever I am, I'm probably having the time of my life. Just don't throw any of my stuff out. Who knows, maybe one day I'll make it back." Quinn shut off the camera, set the timer for twenty minutes, turned to Schrodinger and spoke, "Wish me luck." With those words Quinn Mallory jumped into the vortex. - Quinn found himself still in the basement. After that ride, he had expected something else, but he was right back where he started. "Quinn! Don't you have class today?" His mother yelled. Quinn jumped off of the ground and ran to his car. He was driving to school and listening to Day Tripper. "Well, today is the day. The last CD rolls off the production line. It looks like vinyl is here to stay." Quinn looked at the radio puzzled. He pulled up to the red stop light and stopped. No one moved. The drivers behind him began honking there horns and screaming. Quinn drove through the red light. "And listen to this, Jack Kennedy has decided not to run for another term. Hey, when you wake up in the morning next to Marilyn, that's where you want to spend the day!" "Weird, Tripper," Quinn said. Quinn looked up and stopped the car. In front of him was a billboard. It read, APPEARING NIGHTLY AT THE MIRAGE, THE KING, ELVIS PRESLEY! It suddenly clicked. He was on a parallel world. He turned the car around and headed back for his house. "Red means go, green means stop," he kept telling himself. He got out of the car and his mother was in front of the house. "Did you forget something Quinn?" Quinn looked at her. She had red hair and she was pregnant, not to mention she was cuddled up to their gardener. "Mom, you're . . and with . . ." She looked at him strangely. He heard a beeping noise. He pulled the timer from inside his jacket pocket. It had hit zero. He suddenly felt himself being pulled away from the ground and back into the vortex. The next thing he knew, he was back in his basement. - Quinn ran into the classroom and spoke, "Sorry I'm late Professor, but . . . the Einstein-Rosen-Podelsky Bridge. I've crossed it!" "GET OUT!" Arturo shouted. "What?" Quinn replied. "You have said enough already!" "Professor?" "Very well, if you will not leave, I will. But so help me, if you ever speak of my theories that way again . . . " Arturo stormed out of the room. Bennish walked up to Quinn and spoke, "Man, I think Arturo's a pompous windbag too, but I'd never have the guts to tell him to his face." Quinn had no idea what was going on. - Quinn walked into Doppler and began to put his name tag on. Wade walked up to him and spoke, "What are you doing?" "Coming to work," Quinn replied. "Hurley is going to kill you." "I'm not that late," Quinn replied. "Quinn, he just fired you." "What?" "You told him he could stick his motherboards where--" "Wade, that wasn't me! I haven't even been here." "Really, and I guess you're going to tell me that kiss meant nothing too," Wade replied. "Oh my God. I kissed Hurley." "No, you kissed me," Wade replied slightly angry. "Why would I kiss you. We're buds. It'd be like incest." "Whatever, Quinn. Hurley's coming. You better get out of here. We'll talk later." - The basement, it was the only place Quinn could find refuge from whatever had happened to him. He looked around and saw the blackboard. "What the? It's solved! Who did this?" "That would be me." Quinn turned around and was face to face with himself. "Oh my gosh. The machine. It split me in two." "No. I'm you Quinn, but I'm you from another Earth. A parallel universe." "The equation?" "That old thing. I solved that months ago. I can't believe you slid without knowing it." "Slid?" Alt-Quinn spoke, "Sliding, that's what I call it. You probably would have come up with it yourself sooner or later. We're a lot alike, Quinn." Alt-Quinn looked our Quinn over and spoke, "But we're pretty different too." He grabbed the timer and opened a vortex. "This vortex leads to a parallel earth. You can slide between the dimensions. As a matter of fact this is my eighth slide." "Can you control your destination?" "Not yet." Alt-Quinn's watch beeped, "I'd better get going, wife's waiting." Quinn raised an eyebrow. "I've been married almost three years. You're going to love sliding, Quinn. I've been to a world where the Cubs have won the world series the last three years in a row. I even stepped onto a world this side of paradise. There was no hunger, no war, no fear and a stranger was welcomed with open arms. I had set the timer for twenty hours, not nearly enough time. I'll always keeping searching for that world." Alt-Quinn's portal opened. "And one more thing. Whatever you do, don't mess with the tim . . . . " Alt-Quinn was sucked into the vortex before he could finish his sentence and Quinn was left alone in the basement. - Across town, a former star is reading for his "BIG" comeback. "That's right Arnie, tonight is the return of the "Cryin' Man" and from there it's straight to the top. Leaving the Spinning Topps was the smartest thing I ever did." Arnie mumbled under his breath, "Oh yeah, they had fifteen hits after you left." Rembrandt Brown replied, "And they were all flukes." Arnie snapped, "Rembrandt you're singing the national anthem at a baseball game, it's not the Apollo." "It's the beginning of the Cryin' Man's return." Rembrandt steps out of the bathroom. He was a middle-aged black man with a mustache and he was clad in a flashy gold suit with about twelve colored ribbons on the lapel. "90's, baby." Arnie could only shake his head. - A few blocks down from the Mallory home. "I don't understand you Jayson Garrick! You sit in this room day in and day out. Ever since Jamie left you, all you've done is let your life go downhill. You dropped out of college, and you haven't even attempted to do anything with your writing talents!" "Dad, I don't want to hear it." "Well, you're going to. You have to get your head out of the clouds and stop dreaming. All I've ever heard you talk about since you were thirteen is parallel worlds, parallel worlds and how one day you'll escape all of this and go to a parallel world. Quit living in a dream world and face reality. This is it! This is your life, now do something about it!" Jayson didn't respond. He simply started walking out the door. "Where are you going?" his father asked. "Out." "Get back here! I'm not finished." Jayson simply kept walking. - Wade Welles and Professor Maximilian Arturo were standing at the front door of the Mallory home. Quinn's mother opened the door and spoke, "Hello Wade, who's your friend." "Mrs. Mallory, I am Professor Maximilian Arturo, Quinn's physics professor. I received a call to meet him here. We had a slight altercation in class and I think he intends to apologize." "Well, he's down in the basement." Wade and Arturo walked down into the basement. "Mr. Mallory, what do you need?" Quinn was working on the timer. He didn't even look up when he spoke, "Just a minute." Arturo became agitated, "Mr. Mallory! My time is valuable and . . and . . good heavens!" Arturo's eyes focused on the blackboard. "This alone represents the unified theory, that alone is the holy grail, but the rest of this . . . and it's found in the basement of this unpublished, unkempt, ill-mannered young ruffian." Quinn spoke, "It gets better." - The swirling blue vortex was in front of them. Wade spoke, "So we jump through this and we're on like another planet?" Quinn smiled, "Same planet, different dimension." Wade spoke, "Who's ready to take a spin around the universe?" Professor Arturo spoke, "Don't you believe that more testing is in order Mr. Mallory?" "If you don't want to come along, Professor . . ." Arturo responded, "I might as well, just so someone with a level head will be along." "Five hours long enough? We take a look around and we're home before midnight, "Quinn said. "Can all of us fit?" Wade asked. "I'm not sure. I guess I should turn up the power. The question is how much?" Quinn turned the dial and the vortex sucked the three of them in. It then left the basement and floated outside of the house. - Jayson Garrick was walking past the Mallory home, muttering to himself. He never saw the wormhole coming. And in moments Jayson Garrick had vanished. - Rembrandt Brown was singing The Star Spangled Banner as he tried to get to the practice before the game. He looked up and was unable to avoid the blue swirling object he was driving into. And Rembrandt Brown vanished. - Quinn, Wade and Arturo were deposited from the wormhole into what appeared to be Quinn's basement, except that it was dark and covered with dust and cobwebs. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I just saw God and he was driving a Cadillac, "Arturo said. "What a ride! That was like, better than chocolate or . . sex." "I beg to differ Miss Welles." "We're still in the basement, or what passes for the basement in this universe?" Quinn said. "It's cold," Wade replied. "There should be some candles in the cabinets, if my family ever lived here." The three made their way up to the kitchen. Arturo noticed a picture in one of the drawers and spoke, "Who is this?" Quinn looked the picture over, "It must be my family on this world. There's Bopper. He ran away when I was younger. We never found him." "Who's she?" Wade replied. "Must be the sister I never had." "Help!" The three ran to the front door. The entire landscape was covered in ice. The city nothing more than buildings and debris covered in ice. "Must have been an ice age," Quinn said. "Or nuclear winter," Arturo replied. - Jayson Garrick knew where he was. It had clicked immediately after he had hit the hard ice. A parallel world, but it was a heck of a parallel world to land on. Ice world. He had seen the middle-aged black man crying over his car and attempted to calm him. He just kept screaming about his car and the national anthem and a baseball game. Jayson looked up and saw Quinn Mallory and two other people. "Hey!" Jayson screamed. - Quinn spoke, "Jayson? Jayson Garrick?" "Excuse me, but somebody want to tell me what's going on here?" Rembrandt asked. Quinn replied, "We're on a . . ." Jayson interrupted, "Parallel world." "Exactly, how did you know?" "Let's see, one second I'm walking past your house, the next I'm on ice world. I think that's a good enough explanation." "That still doesn't explain what's going on!" Rembrandt screamed. "I built a inter-dimensional travel device. I must have accidentally sucked you two in. Don't worry, in about four hours we'll be back on our normal Earth." "Four hours! I'm suppose to be at the stadium right now!" "Quinn look!" Wade screamed. An ice tornado was coming for them. "What do we do?" Jayson asked. "Quinn, can you activate the timer?" Arturo asked. "I don't know, my double was trying to tell me something about it. He was fading in and out. I don't think I'm suppose to mess with the controls." "Well, you don't have much choice. If you don't we're all about to die!" Rembrandt screamed. - Quinn turned the dial on the timer and a vortex opened. It was above Rembrandt's car, so they all had to climb to get to it. Wade went first, followed by Rembrandt and Arturo. Jayson followed after and as Quinn was about to jump in he slipped. The ice tornado grew closer. He struggled to his feet and finally made it into the vortex. - The next world. The vortex opened and deposited Wade, Rembrandt, Arturo and Jayson. Wade spoke, "Where's Quinn? Did you see him in the vortex?" Rembrandt replied, "I didn't see anything. I didn't even open my eyes." "I didn't see him. He should have been right behind me," Jayson said. "I'm going back after him," Wade said. "Miss Welles, you can't--" "Watch me." "No, you don't understand, that vortex opens up on an infinite number of parallel worlds! There is no way to know where it would take you. If Quinn didn't make it . . . we may never see him again." Wade slowly stepped forward. "Come on Quinn, don't leave me." To Be Continued . . .

The Otherworlds » Earth 1014 » Season One » Pilot, Part 1