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Jessa quickly wiped the sweat from her face as the hot sun beat down on her. In some ways she was one of the unlucky ones. While the world around her continued to be devastated by nuclear and chemical warfare, she lived. According the the few scientists left, those people still alive were immune to the diseases unleashed by Iraq. The problems were now due to the devastated ecosystems. Genetically tailored diseases had brought about new combinations of plants and animals. Hope had left the world. In the last year more people had died of despair than sickness.

She shook aside those thoughts as she walked down the deserted San Francisco street. It had been a long trek from Cannon Beach. Shifting her backpack Jessa searched for signs of life. The sooner she delivered her messages, the sooner she could return home. Of course, it was always smart to have a backup these days.

A pinpoint of color shattered the sky in front of Jessa as blue and green fought to dominate a swirling circle of light and wind. A woman hurtled out knocking Jessa down as three more figures landed in quick succession. Her green eyes took in the stranger. "Who are you?"

"Damn. I hate witnesses," Maggie muttered before taking in Jessa's question. "I'm Maggie. That's Rembrandt, Mallory, and Diana." Maggie pointed to each of her companions in turn.

"Oh." Jessa felt faint again. Shaking her head she noticed furtive movement beginning to encircle the small group. "What was that?" Jessa knew enough to keep them busy until they had been safely surrounded and her identity verified. Hopefully Dan was still around. "A vortex," Rembrandt was beginning to worry about this stranger. She looked pale and sickly, "who are you?"

"I'm Jessa," she started coughing. "Sorry. I'm a messenger." Absently she looked at her hand and noticed blood. She blinked and looked at the four strangers blankly. "Have Dan give you the vaccine Maggie." She felt dizzy again. "Tell Dan to find Hope for the message." With those words she collapsed. Maggie quickly tried to find a pulse.

"She's dead." Maggie stated the obvious while trying to digest this strange turn of events. Before she could speak again she fell to the ground unconscious.
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 Tigs
Produced by Q-Ball79 and Chaser9

Rembrandt paced the cell yet again. No one had said a word to them since he, Mallory and Diana had awakened. Maggie was nowhere to be found. Remmy's feet stopped him in front of the small window. He peered through the bars at the desolate world outside. Already some of the buildings farther out were beginning to crumble. Grass and weeds burst out of the concrete sporadically. It looked as if San Francisco had suffered from a few earthquakes and no one had taken the time to do more than remove the rubble.

Mallory sat against a wall and held his head in his hands. His thoughts kept taking the strangest directions. He kept thinking about being a kid. When he found out he was sick, before he was confined to the wheelchair he had gone wild. One night his friend Rad had talked him into "borrowing" a sweet ride. The two had snagged a classic BMW convertible from the driveway of a posh house. They were fifteen. He'd just let Rad take the wheel when a truck came out of nowhere. It plowed into the driver's side. Not only had the car been totaled, but Rad had died. He had been the only one who understood. The only one who had stuck around.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!" Diana's scream brought both Rembrandt and Mallory to her side. She was now sitting straight up on the sole cot in the cell. Mallory put an arm around her as she shook like a leaf in a storm.

"What happened sweety?" Rembrandt squatted in front of Diana and Mallory. She buried her head in Mallory's chest and continued to sob. "Was it a nightmare Diana?"

A few minutes later, Diana had calmed enough to talk about her dream. "We made it back to our world and everyone was dead. There was a horrible stench. Bodies everywhere. We were walking. I looked up and saw the four of us, actually our heads. They had been put on street lamps." Her eyes had a haunted look.

"It's okay Diana." Mallory continued to hold her. "We're here. Remmy's here and I'm here. None of us are dead." "What about Maggie?" Diana looked at both men.


Daniel's green eyes took in the timer. He had confiscated it as soon as the prisoners hit the compound. He'd popped the cover on and inspected it as his mind mulled over what little he'd learned about the strangers.

Maggie, the one in the infirmary, kept mumbling something about finding hope. Hope in all its forms was dead. As if triggered by the phrase memories came flooding back. One hand swept through his dark hair as he gave himself over to better times.

His mind wandered back in time to memories of the summer he spent in Cannon Beach with his Gran and her friends. Hope and Jessa had been cousins. The granddaughters of his Gran's best friend. The three of them had explored the town, the beach and even convinced their grandmothers to take them to other beach towns. He smiled as he remembered the day the three of them had jumped the barrier and a "view point" above Manzeneta. They had taken the short trail to the bluffs. Closing his eyes he heard the pounding of the surf and he could see the fairy tunnels. For so Hope had dubbed them after explaining how the war ships of the fairys used the small tunnels to move in and out of this world.

She had died of the plagues that swept the world in the wake of the war. One of the countless fatalities. He sometimes wondered how they would survive. He knew parts of Oregon were better off than the whole of California, but without Jessa's message he had no idea if they were welcome. They desperately needed safe passage. He gripped the timer parts automatically as yet another earth tremor shook the compound. Another reason for the hoped for move north. Perhaps that is what the message meant; perhaps they were supposed to go North and hope for the best.


Hope looked up at the road sign. "Bandon 1 Mile." She shifted her heavy backpack and grabbed her bottle. The tepid water slid down her throat. At least she had plenty of filters. She walked to the edge of the highway and watched the waves for a minute before starting back. Twenty minutes later she was in the middle of 'bustling' downtown Bandon, Oregon. The storefronts--most of them--had been boarded up as people fled the rioting and death. Four hundred and fifty miles to go. Thank the Maker for Highway 101 she thought. Nineteen more days. She simply knew that Jessa had died so the messages fell to her to deliver. Hope prayed she had the strength and favor to finish this.


Mallory couldn't shake these thoughts. For some reason Diana's dream and the lack of contact with their captors kept triggering memories of his best friend. His back hit one of the cell walls and he sank to the floor. Silently tears fell as guilt gnawed at him again. Rad was healthy; he should have been the one to live. He smiled when he remembered Rad's dares. The boy was always on something or in something. They'd had an instant connection. Rad was the one person Mallory wanted to meet again. He needed to know that somewhere in the universes Rad had survived and lived up to his brilliance.

Rembrandt Brown felt the lyrics to a song bubble up. He'd already lost too many friends. Now Maggie might be next. His left hand clenched one of the window bars. She had to be doing well. Why else would they still be left alone? Hopefully she had the timer. His brown eyes closed as he acknowledged the futility of that wish. Whomever led these people held their ticket out. The sliders didn't even know how much time they had.


Daniel wandered out his ramshackle office. He took in the rubble strewn around the streets and blocking access to the compound. California had been devastated. Between the terrorist attacks and the earthquakes his people had been lucky to keep the compound clear. They'd managed to burn the bodies in mass pyres. He stomach lurched as the phantom smell of burning bodies assaulted his nose again. He had never washed the stink of that out of his being. Squaring his shoulders he strode into the infirmary. He'd done what he had to save his people.

"Is she awake?" There weren't many patients this day. Thankfully.

Dr. Simms whispered, "She's still hallucinating. Mumbling about hope and strange things." Daniel looked over the sleeping woman. Her red hair was matted to her forehead and her body writhed in agony as names cascaded off her lips. "Wade I'm so sorry. Nooooooooooooooooooo, not Quinn. Remmy don't leave me here. Stay. Where's Colin? Find Hope." She continued to mumble as Daniel fell back.

"It can't be true Ryan. Can it?" Daniel looked closely at Dr. Ryan Simms.

Ryan shook his head, "when I left she had the plague. No one who caught it survived."


Hope entered the last of the strongholds. Five guarded the way north to prevent bandits and the like from hitting what was left of the more temperate north lands of Oregon. Gomez Calhoun walked out the gates. Another messenger? One had come through three weeks earlier. He watched the tall, plump, dusty woman stride confidently towards him. "Messenger." He called out.

For her part Hope took in the dark curly hair and the stolid body before her. She'd heard Calhoun was one to present a goofy, soft front as a mask for his dangerous skills. "Peace Commander." She bowed on one knee as befitted the ritual.

"Rise Messenger. Why do you follow so closely behind the last?" Calhoun patiently blocked the gate with his ample form while he waited for an answer.

On her feet again, "my sister in purpose is dead. I come to take her place. Would the migrants be granted safe passage with me as their guide?"

"Depends on who you are."

"I am Hope." With her words a cry arose among Calhoun's ranks. Startled Hope's gaze swept across the walls of the stronghold. The question in her hazel eyes conveyed itself to Calhoun swifter than the spoken word.

Calhoun roared with laughter. "Hope lives," his eyes watered. "Here we thought it dead."


Diana paced the small interrogation room. She'd been here for what felt like a day. Her eyes watered with her efforts to stay awake. Somehow they had to get the timer back. Finally the door opened. An athletic man a few years her junior entered the room. He looked down on her. She guessed he was a few inches shorter than Mallory--then again wasn't almost everyone? Diana refused to give him the satisfaction of speaking first.

Realizing how strong willed the woman was Daniel opened, "tell me about yourself."

Silence.

"I can help you."

Silence.

"I know I possess something you want. In return I'm only asking for your knowledge."

Silence.

His normal charisma didn't seem to work on these people. The same damn thing with every one. "If you don't want your device I suppose I'll just have to find a use for it."

Silence.

Daniel walked out the door confident that they would all break soon enough. He always had the information Maggie had given as an ace. He locked the door and went to check on the other two. They were in identical rooms. Mustn't let them think they'd be safe. They had no reason to believe a lie.


Dr. Simms helped Maggie sit up. She had finally succumbed to the vaccine and begun to recover. Thus far she had been silent. He was sure she was trying to remember her fever mumblings. Ryan's charm was still intact. Against her will Maggie felt herself responding. She smiled softly. "My friends?" she whispered.

"Friends?" He had been well warned to play dumb.


Hope finally stumbled into San Francisco. She visibly cringed at the thought of hiking up and down hills and around the rubble. She only had a rough idea of where the compound lay. Maker willing they would have scouts and lookouts about. Gingerly she adjusted her arm. She was pretty sure it was broken. Two days out she had taken a nasty spill down a hillside and cracked her arm against a rock. The sling and splint were poorly made, but she was hoping to find a medic before her arm set.


"Tell me who you are." Dan stood loosely, watching.

For his part Mallory was actually considering answering. His stomach was empty and he'd just about given up hope. Who knew if they'd already missed the slide? But he couldn't give in quite yet. Could he? "Where's Maggie?"

Dan raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Infirmary. Now who are you?"

"Quinn Mallory. People just call me Mallory. Is she ok?" Mallory understood the rules of this game well. He'd played it enough as a kid.

"She's recovering. Why are you here?"

Mallory snorted, "we don't have a choice." He was silent again. Dan waited for several minutes. Finally realizing that he would get no more Dan left Mallory to his thoughts.


Dr. Simms turned to the door as it squeaked open. A woman stumbled in. She was bedraggled and obviously in pain. Her attempt at splinting her let arm would be laughable except for the obvious strength it took for her to keep moving. "I'm Dr. Simms," he began and then he took his first good look at her face, "Hope…" He spoke her name like a man who had lost everything only to see it all reappear.

"Hey, Ry." Her green eyes were filled with too many emotions to name. "Think you can fix me?" The question was an unfortunate reminder of a long ago argument. She hadn't meant to make him cringe. "I'm sorry. I'd pushed that so far back I forgot about it."

Ryan shook himself and led her to the room next to Maggie's. "Looks like you could use a shower after I fix your arm." He smiled weakly at her. He'd deal with the memories later. "I thought you were dead. You had the plague. You know I would have stayed." Ryan's blue eyes looked searchingly into Hope's green ones.

"I know you would have stayed. I was one of the very few people who contracted the plague and then survived it." Her eyes shadowed for a moment. "No one was around to check my genes. Out of the three of us who I've met that survived..." her voice trailed off as she fought to keep her composure. Having finished setting her arm and bracing it properly Ryan took her into his arms as she wept. He knew what usually happened to the survivors. Hope was the most human looking he'd ever seen.


Maggie heard the sounds of sobbing and moved slowly out of bed. She grabbed the borrowed robe she'd been using for the last week and gingerly moved towards the door. Good Dr. Simms had his face buried in a stranger's hair. The stranger--Maggie closed her eyes as she realized the stranger was Hope. Somehow she just knew. Perhaps it had something to do with the image that had flashed in her mind just before Jessa died.

Hope seemed to be releasing all of her agony and Simms appeared more than happy to hold her close. Maggie was watching the two of them when Dan walked through the outer door. He stopped. "Ryan?" Maggie shamelessly eavesdropped.

"She's alive." Ryan's face was streaked with tears and the woman he had held tightly in his arms turned.

Dan fell to his knees in shock. "How?"

"Survived the plague. How you doing Dan?"

"Hope." Ryan and Hope helped Dan to stand. The three of them hugged.

Without even a whisper of a sound Maggie eased shut the door to her room. Once she was settled back in bed she let her mind wander. Hope was here and alive. Remmy, Mallory, and Diana had to be close. Where was the timer? Had they missed their window? What did Hope's arrival mean?


A few days later Dan watched as Hope led the first group north. He slapped the map against his thigh as he thought about what to do with the prisoners. Half his mind told him to leave them here. Let them survive or not. He turned towards his office. As he walked he thought about the four strangers. He still had their device. From what Maggie had told him it was their key home. Smiling he thought again about his childhood and the comics he used to collect. Decision made he walked with a more confident step.
Things were looking up. His people had safe passage and a place to settle once they reached the fertile northlands. He sometimes wondered what turn his life would have taken if he'd stayed home instead of coming out to visit the setting of one of his favorite shows. Or if he'd never met Hope, Jessa, and Ryan. What if he'd actually made it to law school? Dan smiled at the thought of doing all of those things--in another life maybe.


Maggie adjusted the sweater for the umpteenth time. "Dan how can I ever thank you for saving my life and giving me back the timer?"

"You can't." He shrugged his shoulders as he led her down to the cells. "You only have a few minutes. Just enough time to get your friends."

"What made you finally decide to believe me?"

Dan turned to Maggie and smiled, "an old comic I used to collect and the fact that you are partially responsible for finding Hope."

"Dan, I fell into Jessa. I had nothing to do with Hope."

"Maybe." Dan handed her the keys. "Good luck Maggie."

"Safe journey Dan." Maggie quickly pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek.


Gomez Calhoun watched the last group head out the gates and north. A ragtag group if he was any judge of such things. Dan, their leader, was one who bore watching. Gomez shook his head as the gates swung shut. Then he chuckled softly to himself. "Hope lives."


Mallory, Diana and Remmy didn't have a chance to do more than hug Maggie before the vortex opened. "I promise I'll tell you everything I can on the next world," Maggie shouted, jumping into the vortex. The others followed her in quick succession as yet another earth tremor shook the building. Large cracks formed in the walls before all was quiet.

The End

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