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Rembrandt, Mallory, Maggie, and Diana had been partying all night. They had landed on a world where Disco was still the hottest dance craze, and Rembrandt was the front man for The Sunshine Band (after he and K.C. had a falling out). The lights flashed and the music blared at this outdoor dance party on the beach. The song was easily recognizable to Remmy…it was "Get Down Tonight" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, only K.C. was sharing lead vocals with the Rembrandt Brown of this world. He laughed to himself as he danced with Maggie, and was glad he decided not to move with his cousin to Florida back in the 70's.

All of a sudden, in the midst of the party, red wormholes opened up in the sky. Rembrandt immediately recognized what was happening, and the other sliders figured it out when Manta ships began to emerge.

"Oh my god…" Rembrandt uttered.
What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds, where it's the same year and you're the same person, but everything else is different? And what if you can't find your way home?

Starring:
Cleavant Derricks as Rembrandt Brown
Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett
Robert Floyd as Mallory
Tembi Locke as Diana Davis




by QBall79
Produced by Q-Ball79 and Chaser9

"Mallory and Diana had been dancing nearby…or at least they were giving it a shot. Mallory had some skills, but Diana had two left feet. She had never attended dances or parties back in school, and her demanding career schedule had kept her from visiting any clubs. Clubs were out of the question anyway, and her attempt at bumping and grinding here made it obvious why.

"Mallory! Diana!" Rembrandt yelled. "Come on! We've got to go NOW!" Mallory and Diana ran over to join Rembrandt and Maggie. The four of them started running frantically to find a place to hide. Kromaggs would be approaching soon to take prisoners … and to kill.

"I saw an old abandoned bath house on our way here," Mallory said. "I think we could hide out there until the slide."

"How much time do we have?" Maggie said, looking at Diana.

"About two days," Diana replied. "We'll need to get some food from somewhere, and a flashlight or something in case there isn't any electricity."

"Done," Mallory said. "We'll stop at the convenience store on the way."

The store was in a shambles when they arrived. Looters had already began their feeding frenzy, and while Maggie and Mallory fought their way in to grab their share of the food, Rembrandt stayed outside with Diana. A minute later, Maggie and Mallory came out with enough food for the remainder of the slide. Maggie had several sandwiches, while Mallory was juggling some frozen pizzas and a stack of tabloids.

"Mallory, what are you going to do with those?" Remmy asked.

Mallory looked at Rembrandt, then back at his stack of stuff. "Guess I got carried away," he answered. He threw his prizes into the mob of people, who immediately began wrestling each other for a piece. The group resumed their frantic retreat.

When it seemed like they could run no more, they arrived at the bath house. They entered the first door they came to, the women's bathroom, and Mallory checked the light switch. No light.

"It may just be a fuse or breaker problem," Mallory said. "I'll see if I can find the box and fix it."

"I'd better come with you," Rembrandt said. "We need to stay together on this world…you don't know what might happen." Mallory and Rembrandt went into the men's room next door, where the breaker box was. Rembrandt held the flashlight as Mallory opened the box and looked inside.

"Great," Mallory said. "All we have to do is flip this switch and…" Mallory flipped the switch, and the lights came on. "Presto!"

"Good," Rembrandt said as they turned around to leave. "Now let's get back to…" Rembrandt stopped in his tracks, as did Mallory, when they each saw two Kromagg soldiers standing behind them. One was tall and the other was of average height. Each was equally hideous.

Diana and Maggie wondered what was keeping the guys so long. Maggie was about to go check on them when the door flew open and two Kromaggs entered with Mallory and Rembrandt in their grips.

"What the hell," Maggie said. "How did they find us?"

"You will come with us," the tall Kromagg said. "We are under strict orders to take you in...dead or alive; preferably alive. If any one of you makes a false move, your friends will die...and so will you."

The soldiers took the sliders back to the beach where they had been partying before. The music was still playing, but nobody was dancing. The ground was scattered with the eyeless carcasses of those who just minutes earlier had been celebrating life. As they stumbled through the sand toward a lone Manta ship, the sliders looked at one another - half in bewilderment, half in fear.

Rembrandt couldn't stand the thought of being taken by the Maggs again. His anger and desperation got the best of him and he started to struggle against his captor. Within seconds the foursome was out cold, overtaken by a Kromagg sleep inducer.


Mallory awoke to find himself on some sort of operating table with strange, pyramid-shaped objects attached to the sides of his head. He tried to sit up, only to realize he was strapped down. As he let out a sigh, he heard a door open behind him.

"Who's there?" he said. "Where am I?"

A Kromagg commander stepped into view and looked down at him. "I will ask the questions here, human," the creature snarled. He looked at Mallory with genuine disgust on his face. "You will comply or suffer the consequences."

"Oh yeah?" Mallory said, putting on a front. "What consequences might those be, Kromagg?"

The soldier walked over to a table, on which some Kromagg devices rested, picked up what looked like a remote control, and pressed a button. Mallory's head was instantly in excruciating pain, and his resonant scream made it evident.


Diana awoke to the sound of a distant cry of agony. She knew it was Mallory, and wondered what was happening. She too was strapped down, but to what looked more like a dentist's chair than anything else.

"Hello?" she said. "Is anyone there?" No answer. "What's going on here?" Still no answer. She started struggling against the restraints, hoping there was a way to get loose. The timer was still in her inside jacket pocket, but her PDL was gone. Diana finally gave up on trying to escape. Her stomach felt like a tornado on the inside, and she was growing more claustrophobic with the passing of each second.


Rembrandt awoke in a cell not unlike the one he spent time in when he was imprisoned on Earth Prime. It was dark and dingy, and it brought back memories. Bad memories. Memories about torture, and about Wade. He still remembered the day they took her away, and it ate away at him deep down. All of a sudden he heard a voice behind him.

"Rembrandt," it said. Remmy recognized the voice immediately and turned around. He couldn't believe his eyes!

"Wade?" he said. "Can it be? I thought you were… gone!" She wore a long white dress, and looked like an angel among the dingy backdrop.

"Remmy, didn't I tell you before that I would always be with you whenever you need me?" Wade asked. She looked at him lovingly and stroked his head.

"Oh, Wade, I've missed you," Rembrandt cried as he put his arms around her. "What's going on here? Why did the Kromaggs take us again?"

"They want something from you," she said. "You have to be strong, Rembrandt. Everything will be okay. And remember, I'm right here…" Wade pointed to his heart as a sudden abrupt banging noise awoke him.

It was the sound of a Kromagg soldier slamming the door of his room that awakened Rembrandt. There was an additional guard at the door, and he held a gun. Rembrandt sat up in his chair and scratched his head. He had been sleeping, but it seemed so real. Was it a Kromagg mind-control ploy? Maybe, but to what end? Why would the Kromaggs have told him to be strong? In any case, his attention was now on this figure that had entered the room.

"Are you satisfied?" the soldier asked him. Rembrandt didn't know what to say, and thought it best that he keep quiet for the time being. "Well, human? Are you happy? ANSWER ME!!!" The Kromagg backhanded Rembrandt.

"What do you want?" Remmy asked.

"You know exactly what I want!" the soldier shouted.

"No… I don't," Rembrandt replied. "Now would you tell me what the hell you're talking about?!" The Kromagg glared at him in disgust.

"The vials, human!" he hissed. "Where are they?!"


"What vials?!" exclaimed Maggie Beckett, who was undergoing a similar line of interrogation. "I have no idea what you are talking about! Vials of what?"

"You know good and well what!" her captor screamed. "We know you are responsible for what has happened, and we intend to put a stop to it now. Where are they?"


Mallory let out another scream. He was at his wit's end, and could hardly bear this torture anymore.

"I don't know anything about an implant!" he shouted. "Why won't you believe me?!"

"Where is Quinn Mallory?!" the Kromagg captor barked back.

"I am Quinn Mallory!" Mallory answered.

"You are not the Quinn Mallory who was implanted with the homing device four years ago!" the soldier insisted. "Where is he, and why do you now carry the device?!"

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!" Mallory shouted over and over. He was out of it. He had lost his grip on reality, and didn't know where he was or what was happening anymore. All he knew was the excruciating pain… and the persistent yelling.


Diana Davis was losing her patience. She was somewhere between boredom and all-out fear as she waited alone in the dark room. She could still hear Mallory in the distance, screaming in anguish. Tears rolled down her face, and she didn't know what felt worse - the thought of the pain Mallory was going through… or the thought that she may be next.

After several hours a Kromagg entered. Or was it several days? How long had it been? Diana had no idea how much time had passed since they had been taken into captivity, or whether or not they had missed the window. She couldn't reach into her pocket to look at the timer, but the readout was most likely blank anyway.

"This device," the interrogator held the PDL in his hand. "What does it do? Is it some sort of tricorder?"

"It isn't a tricorder," Diana answered. "It's a Portable Dimensional Laboratory."

"What does it do?"

"Well," Diana said. "it detects and measures quantum matrix fluctuations…" Diana continued her description of the PDL, as Mallory stopped his screaming down the hall. As she talked, Diana wondered how the others were.


"You really don't know, do you?" Rembrandt's interrogator said. He had caved in after rooting around in his head for a while, and determined that Remmy really didn't know what he was talking about.

"Some time ago you landed on an earth where the…" the soldier seemed to have a hard time getting his sentence out. "…humans had stopped a Kromagg invasion using a virus that only attacked our race." Rembrandt nodded as he sat back in his chair. "We tracked you there, so we know. Since then, every earth we have followed you to for purposes of invasion has proven unconquerable. You and your companions have been bringing the virus onto every earth since, resulting in failed takeovers and driving out our race from worlds we have inhabited. You have taken away our homes once again, just as the humans did on our home earth, and once again we have been rendered homeless."

"Don't get all weepy on me, maggot," Rembrandt said. "I've been there, done that, and bought the coffee mug. If you expected me to feel sorry for you, then I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't, and I won't."

The soldier backhanded Rembrandt violently, out of rage. "I don't want your sympathy, human!" he said. "I want…I…" All of a sudden, the Kromagg's nose began to bleed. He began to grow dizzy, and fell to the floor. The guard did the same. They both started vomiting up blood… and whatever it was they had eaten earlier that day. This was Rembrandt's chance. He searched his captor's pockets for a master key, and found one. Now to find his friends.

"You know," Remmy said, looking back one more time at the two fallen Kromaggs, "you may want to try tilting your head back." He then ran out the door and into the hallway.


Maggie Beckett ran out into the hall. She could hardly believe what had just happened. Her captors had been rendered powerless after hours of interrogation - something she never would have expected to happen while under Kromagg captivity. She turned a corner and ran right into Rembrandt.

"Hey, girl," he said. "I was looking for you! I think I know where they put Mallory and Diana."

"Great," Maggie said. "Let's get them and find a way out of here!" Maggie followed Rembrandt to a door marked "Quarantine Unit" in Kromagg letters. He opened the door using his master key, and they both entered the empty room. Rembrandt then shoved Maggie to the floor and laughed. Maggie looked up at him as he changed his appearance to that of a Kromagg officer.

"The one thing I love about you humans," he said as he stepped back toward the door. "Is that you are so gullible! HA HA HA HA HA!!!" All of a sudden the Kromagg was hit in the back of the head by the fist of Rembrandt Brown… the real Rembrandt Brown. The blow laid the officer out on the floor. Maggie just kind of stood up and looked around.

"What are you waiting for, Maggie?" Rembrandt said. "Let's go!"

"How do I know it's really you?" Maggie asked.

"Well, I suppose you don't," Remmy said as he cracked a smile. The two took a left out of the door and walked down the hall. "When I escaped, I found what looked like a sliding machine. Now all we have to do is find Diana and Mallory so we can fire it up and get the hell out of here."

"I guess you heard the news," Maggie said.

"Yeah, I did," Remmy answered. "All this time we've been searching for that freakin' Kromagg weapon and we always had it. Some kind of sick irony."

"But you know what that means, Rem," Maggie said. "It means that every world we have been to since Christina's world has been spared. And now, thanks to that, you have a home to go to. It may not be Kromagg-free yet, but once you find it, it will be."

"You're right," Rembrandt agreed. "This is a blessing, not a curse. Mission accomplished, right?"

"Mission accomplished," Maggie said with a smile. Just then they heard a familiar female voice coming from behind a closed door.

"Remmy! Maggie!" she said. It was Diana. The twosome entered the room to find her bound, but unharmed. Rembrandt unlocked her shackles with his master key.

"Good to see you, girl," Remmy said as he hugged her. Maggie did the same. "I think Mallory's on this hall," Diana said as she grabbed her PDL from the counter. "I could hear him screaming when they were questioning me. I just hope he's okay… God knows what they have done to him."

"Let's hope you're right, and that the screaming you heard wasn't just mind games," Remmy said.

"Do you have the timer?" Maggie asked.

"Right here," Diana answered. "But it does us no good here; unless we can find some sliding equipment and get back to the previous world, we won't be able to slide."

"I may be able to help with that," Remmy said.

The sliders reached the next door and opened it. Mallory was lying there on the operating table, eyes closed, and he wasn't moving. The same thought went though each of their minds. Rembrandt went up to him and spoke.

"Mallory?" he whispered. "Mallory!" he repeated a little louder. He shouted his name again and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Baaaahhhh!" Mallory screamed as he awoke. "Oh! It's you!" Remmy unlocked Mallory's shackles. "I thought I'd never see you guys again. Do any of you have some aspirin?" He held his head, which was still pounding. They all hugged one another and decided to get the heck out of there. And it was at that moment that an alarm started to sound.

"That's our cue," Rembrandt said as he began to run. Kromagg soldiers were following them now, but they were so sick that they couldn't really keep up. Rembrandt led them back down the hall and they took a right… right into a group of Kromagg officers. The sliders stopped and just looked at them, wondering what to do.

"I don't have time for this," Rembrandt said, belting one of them with his fist. Mallory and Maggie took out the rest, who were too slow to react.

"This way," Rembrandt said as he led them down the hallway. They eventually came to a large machine that looked a lot like the equipment that Quinn had in his basement.

"It's a sliding machine, all right," Diana said. "Let me see if I can get it to work." Diana hooked her PDL up to the device and threw a switch on the wall.

"Great," she said. "It works. Now all I have to do is input the coordinates and…" Just then a vortex opened in front of the group. They all applauded, and Diana took a bow. Each one of them leaped in, relieved that they had found a way out.


"The humans have escaped," Commander Konnell said. He was talking to Supreme Commander Krolinpah on a video screen, reporting the situation. "But I think we can still recapture them. Shall we track them?"

The Supreme Commander hesitated, sneered at the screen, and said, "No. We do not follow them."

"But sir," the Commander interjected.

"But nothing, Commander," Krolinpah interrupted. "None of your men are in any condition to go chasing the humans down, and there is no way I am going to send healthy soldiers into an infested world to capture them."

"Sir, these humans must be destroyed!" Konnell argued. "This could be our last attempt at destroying these sliders once and for all, and containing this disease! At the very least, the blood of those who have died as a result of this plague must be avenged."

"As you wish," Krolinpah said reluctantly. "I will send two soldiers in protective suits to go after these sliders."


"Two minutes, guys," Diana said. The rest of them were sitting on the floor of the beach bath house bathroom. All of a sudden their rest was disturbed by the sound of the bathroom door flying open. Two trigger-happy Kromagg soldiers barged in. There wasn't time for this. It was almost time to slide. Mallory got down on his knees and pled for his life, hoping to create a diversion.

"Please don't kill me!" he cried. "I beg of you, spare my life!" The diversion worked, and while the soldiers looked at Mallory, Maggie took one of them down with a sweep kick, while Rembrandt took the other one out with that classic punch.

"You know the drill," Remmy said to Maggie. Maggie nodded, and they each tore a hole in the protective suits. The Kromaggs began gasping for breath and coughing.

Diana opened the vortex, and each of them took one last glance at the scene before jumping in.


Commander Konnell put down his barf bucket and wiped his mouth. "The humans have escaped," he said. "Shall we follow them?"
"No," Krolinpah answered.

"Sir, they must be destroyed!"

"Just let it go, Commander," the Supreme Commander said. "It's over for us." He then shouted to someone offscreen. "Kari! Alert the media. I'm going to address the Dynasty."


"Fellow citizens of the Kromagg Dynasty," Krolinpah said into the camera, tears welling up in his eyes. "We have realized that the extinction of our own race is at hand. The virus that has driven us off so many earths could have been carried to any number of earths by unknowing sliders undetected. That coupled with the fact that our few remaining females are unable to bear children means that even if this terrible plague does not kill us all, we would still breed ourselves into extinction. I'm afraid that all we can do now is stay where we are and hope the virus does not reach us before we die off, lest we suffer."


On a parallel earth… Two 'Invasion style' Kromaggs had been watching the broadcast as well. "Ironic," one said. "that these humans accomplished what we could not, and all they had to do was breathe." "Indeed," the other commented. "And now, thanks to them, we can finally resume our own agenda, now that there is one less race to stand in our way…"

The End

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