Captain: Blinker

Cook: SL4ever

Bartender: Jaguar71

Activity Director: Spaz119

Spaz's Assistant: Superslider

Gift Shop Attendant: Ann Fredericks

Casino Manager: RealSlider

Lounge DJ: HurriKain

Lounge Singer: Mychand

Cabin Boy: WMay

Ship Security: QBall79 and ThomasMalthus

Ship Doctor: OzSlider

Senator: BonnieBee

Senator’s assistant: SouthernSlider

Spring Breakers: Slider142, SupremeTrekker, Robin14334, loveskitz

Newlyweds: 1013shan and BritSlider

Single Passengers: SciFiWatcher and HotelTwilightZone

Sarah’s Parents (I know you are really not that old): SlidingThrough and TheBean

TemporalFlux's best friend: Slider365

TemporalFlux and Slider Sarah: You’ll have to wait and see for this one. (Result of first interactive poll)

Remmie was the first one to Slide out of the vortex. Quinn, Colin and Maggie followed closely behind him. After helping each other up Quinn noticed that Remmie was nowhere around. They found themselves standing in the middle of a shipping dock. "Remmie!" shouted Quinn. "Where are you?"

"I’m down here," screamed Remmie. "Help me!"

Remmie had fallen over the side of the dock. His friends ran over to him and pulled him up. "Man, that was close," said Remmie. "Hey, where are we?"

All four Sliders looked up to see a huge cruise liner at the end of the dock. The side of the ship was marked with the name "The Chandler." "Hey, it’s the Love Boat," said Remmie with a grin.

"What’s the Love Boat?" asked Colin

"Quinn, how long do we have on this world?" asked Maggie while she picked up a flyer on the dock. "I think we should see if we can get on this cruise. After all, we can all use a good vacation for a change."

"Yeah," said Remmie. "I don’t know about you guys but I think a cruise is a great idea. I mean, what kind of trouble could we possibly get into on a cruise?"

Quinn advised the others that they had three weeks on this world and all agreed to going on the cruise. The cruise was nearly booked solid so Remmie, Colin and Quinn had to share a cabin while Maggie got her own cabin. Maggie was very pleased and bragged about having her very own cabin boy. "You should see how attentive he is, guys," said Maggie. "His name is WMay."

"That’s alright," said Quinn. "I’ll take your word for it. Come on brother, let’s go see who WE can meet." Colin followed and Remmie headed out to find the lounge.

* * *

Meanwhile, Captain Blinker was discussing the evening’s dinner with SL4ever, the ship's top cook. "Senator BonnieBee will be on board tonight and I want you to come up with a special dish in her honour," said Captain Blinker. "If anyone knows food, it’s you SL4ever."

"I’ll give it my best, sir," said SL4ever. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"No," said Captain Blinker. "I’ll leave the choices up to you."

SL4ever immediately began searching through his cookbooks because he knew the Senator’s presence on this cruise was important to the captain. He was also excited about getting to meet the Senator’s assistant, SouthernSlider who he found to be very intriguing.

* * *

The rest of the passengers continued to board the ship. Security officers QBall79 and ThomasMalthus were making sure that everyone boarded the ship safely. A newlywed couple, BritSlider and 1013shan nearly fell off the side of the boarding ramp while being distracted with one another. QBall79 intervened before the couple went over the side.

"Oh, thanks so much," said 1013shan with a grin. "I don’t know what we were thinking."

"You’re welcome", said QBall79. "You guys newlyweds?"

"Sure are," said BritSlider. "However could you tell?"

The next to board the ship was Slider Sarah and her parents SlidingThrough and TheBean. Sarah’s pal TemporalFlux and his best friend Slider365 followed.

"Sorry my parents had to come along," said Sarah. "This is the third cruise we have been on together. I just wish they would let me come alone for once."

"That’s alright," said TemporalFlux. "I promise you this cruise will be nothing like any you have ever taken before. We are going on an adventure you will never forget."

Sarah’s parents headed to their cabin while TemporalFlux asked Sarah to follow him and Slider365. "Where are we going?" asked Sarah. "I didn’t think you needed my help until tomorrow."

"We are going to find a friend of mine," said TemporalFlux. "Her name is Mychand. She is a singer in the lounge. I need her help if I am going to pull this off."

"Sounds good to me," said Sarah. "Let’s find her."

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the passengers were still boarding. Among them were a group of spring breakers from Florida named Slider142, SupremeTrekker, Robin14334 and loveskitz. The assistant activity director, Superslider was there to greet them. "OK, guys," said Superslider. "I am here to help you plan all of your activities while you are here on the cruise. We only have three main rules for you here. Stay out of the lounge, the casino and by all means stall out of the kitchen."

"I understand why we can’t go into the casino and the lounge," said Slider142. "But, why can’t we go into the kitchen."

"Well, let’s just say cook SL4ever is too much into his food and he doesn’t like being disturbed," said Superslider.

"Sounds kind of odd to me," said Robin14334. "What exactly is he trying to hide?"

"Just don’t go in there and you won’t have anything to worry about," said Superslider.

Superslider then showed the group to their rooms but his comment about the kitchen made them very curious as to why that would be off limits to them so they decided they would wait until later that night and check it out for themselves.

* * *

On the other side of the ship Quinn and Colin were searching for something different to do. "Colin, have you ever done any gambling?" asked Quinn. "It’s a lot of fun."

"No, I haven’t," said Colin. "It was a sin to gamble on the world I was raised."

"Well, I’m going to show you what you’ve been missing brother," said Quinn. "Come on, let’s see if we can find the casino. Every cruise ship has to have a casino."

Colin and Quinn began searching for the casino. "I think I saw a sign that said it was right around…" Quinn was suddenly cut off. The two brothers ran right into two female passengers, SciFiWatcher and HotelTwilightZone.

"I’m so sorry," said Quinn.

"Yeah, please excuse us," said Colin.

"Oh that’s not problem at all," said HotelTwilightZone. "Where are you guys headed?"

"We were looking for the casino," said Quinn. "Do you have any idea where it’s at?"

"Sure," said SciFiWatcher. "We are headed there ourselves."

Quinn and Colin followed the women to the casino. Colin smiled at Quinn. "You know Quinn, I think I might like this gambling thing after all," he said.

Remmie entered the lounge. The lounge DJ, HurriKain was playing techno music and dancing around the dance floor. "Hey, this is pretty cool stuff," said Remmie. "What else do you play?"

"Oh, they make me play just about everything in here," said HurriKain. "I have hundreds of different passengers to please."

HurriKain changed the music and Remmie started to sing out loud. "Hey, you’re pretty good," said HurriKain. "How would you like to help me out tonight? I usually sing the last song of the night after my regular singer Mychand does her act but tonight is my girlfriend spaz's birthday and I promised her I would try to get away early and spend some time with her."

"I’d love to," said Remmie. "What did you want me to sing?"

"Let’s go in the back and discuss it," replied HurriKain.

As Remmie and HurriKain headed to the back room, TemporalFlux, Slider365 and Slider Sarah came into the lounge. "I’m sorry," said bartender Jaguar71. "Your friend isn’t old enough to be in the lounge."

"Oh, sorry," said TemporalFlux. "We were just looking for a friend of mine. She sings here. Her name is Mychand."

"Oh, Mychand is meeting with the activity director at the moment. I’ll be happy to give her a message for you," said Jaguar71.

"Sure, just tell her that Temp is here and that I will look for her after her show tonight," said TemporalFlux.

"Ok, I’ll let her know," replied Jaguar71.

"What now Temp?" asked Slider Sarah. "Are we going to wait until tonight?"

"No," said TemporalFlux. "Let’s do a small little test run. Come on, I have the perfect place to try it."

* * *

Quinn and Colin were having a great time with their new friends HotelTwilightZone and SciFiWatcher. Colin was getting pretty hooked on the slot machines.

Suddenly everything in the room turned white. Quinn looked around him trying to gather his senses.

"Hey, what’s wrong Quinn, I’m over here," a tiny voice said.

"Wade? Wade is that you?" asked Quinn.

"Of course it’s me silly," said Wade. "Who else would I be?"

"But you’re missing…."said Quinn.

"Oh, I’m sorry sweetie, I should have told you I was going to look for the dinner menu for tonight. I didn’t mean to leave without letting you know," she said. "And guess what? They have a special dinner that they will deliver to all newlyweds in their cabin. This other newlywed couple BritSlider and 1013shan were telling me all about it. What do you think? Want to order in?"

"What are you talking about, Wade?" asked Quinn. "We’re married?"

"Oh quit teasing me, Quinn," she said. "Let’s go out on the upper deck."

Suddenly everything blacked for Quinn. He could faintly hear someone calling his name. "Quinn! Quinn!" yelled Colin. "Quinn are you alright?"

"Oww," Quinn winced. "What happened?"

"I don’t know," said Colin. "We were all playing the slot machines when suddenly you and these two ladies passed out on the floor. I think you hit your head."

The casino manager RealSlider ran over to the brothers.

"Is everything alright here?" asked RealSlider. "Your brother isn’t drunk is he?"

"No, sir," said Colin. He just fell and hit his head."

"Well, I think maybe you should take him up to see Dr. OzSlider," said RealSlider. "That looks like a pretty bad gash he has there."

"That’s a good idea," said Colin. "Come on Quinn. The ladies seem to be fine but I think we should have you looked at."

Quinn agreed and they headed to the clinic to find Dr. OzSlider.

Part 4 [posted: 4/13/99] 

Maggie decided she wanted to do what she liked best….shop! She immediately found the ship’s gift shop. There was a pretty young girl working behind the counter. Her name was Ann Fredericks. "Can I help you with something, miss?" asked Ann Fredericks.

"Well, I was looking for a new bikini. Do you carry any clothing in this shop?" asked Maggie.

"Well, we do carry a small section of clothing in the back," said Ann Fredericks. "Follow me and I’ll show you what we have."

Maggie followed as Ann Fredericks showed her around the shop.

TheBean and SlidingThrough had overheard the conversation and followed them.

"What do you think," asked SlidingThrough. "Do you think I should try the bikini?"

"Hey, I think you look good in whatever you put on," said TheBean. "I think you may mortify your daughter though."

"Yeah, you’re right," said SlidingThrough with a laugh. "I wouldn’t want to do that now would I?"

SlidingThrough and TheBean continued teasing each other back and forth when they suddenly noticed Maggie fall to the floor.

"What happened?" asked SlidingThrough.

"I don’t know," said Ann Fredericks. "We were talking and all of a sudden she just collapsed.

For Maggie everything around her had turned white. She walked around trying to find her way but the fog was so thick that she couldn’t see. "Where am I?" she wondered. "Hello, is anyone here?" There was no sound. Maggie felt cold and alone. She kept walking until she found a place to rest. "What is this?" she thought. "A grave?" Maggie looked down at the tombstone before her. The shock of it nearly took her breath away. It read: Maggie Beckett, One Hell of a Marine. "Oh my God," said Maggie. "Am I dead?"

Suddenly everything went black and Maggie could feel something cold on her forehead.

"Are you alright, miss?" asked ThomasMalthus. "It looks like you fainted here."

Maggie sat up and looked around her. "Yeah, I think so," she said. "Maybe I should go up to my cabin and rest awhile."

"That would be a good idea," said TheBean "Maybe you’ve had too much sun today."

Maggie was a little embarrassed but pulled herself up and headed to her cabin.

* * *

"Temp!" yelled Sarah. "That wasn’t funny. I thought you were going to only do one small test today? You do realise my parents were in there don’t you?"

"Sorry Sarah," said TemporalFlux. "I didn’t realise it until it was too late. But look, they were not affected at all."

"Well, I guess that’s a good sign," said Sarah. "I hope the same happens for me when you use me as your guinea pig."

"Don’t worry Sarah," said TemporalFlux. "You’ll be fine."

"Yeah, it’s alright Sarah," said Slider365. "Come on, let’s walk up on deck and I’ll tell you about what happened when I was his guinea pig."

* * *

Meanwhile Mychand had finished her meeting with Spaz119 and was looking for TemporalFlux. She found him on the way to his cabin.

* * *

"Hi there TemporalFlux," said Mychand. "I heard you were looking for me. I managed to get out of working tonight. It seems our DJ found this great singer and he agreed to fill in for both of us tonight."

"Hi Mychand," said TemporalFlux. "That’s great news. I could really use your help. I’ve done a little bit of experimenting today but without being able to talk to the subjects that I am using I can’t get any real feedback."

"Ah, I figured that was you," said Mychand. "The crew said some really bizarre things were happening on board today. We have this super sleuth named QBall79 and he is getting really suspicious."

"I know," said TemporalFlux. "Come on, let’s go have a drink and I’ll tell you all about it. I also want to introduce you to my friends."

* * *

As Quinn and Colin headed to see Dr OzSlider they passed Captain Blinker and Spaz119 in the hallway. "What happened to you, sweetie?" asked Spaz119 "Hit your head on the bedpost?"

Quinn’s cheeks turned red. "Oh, no," said Quinn. "I fell and hit my head in the casino."

"Well, if Dr. OzSlider can’t help you, you come and see me," said Spaz119. "I know how to fix a headache."

Captain Blinker and Spaz119 then walked off as Quinn and Colin went into Dr. OzSlider’s office.

"What?" asked Spaz119 " I was only teasing him. Besides, you said you hired me for my personality and you know I would never cheat on my HurriKain."

"Personality is right," said Captain Blinker. "Just promise me you won’t mention bedposts to Senator BonnieBee.

"Alright, I’ll be professional," replied Spaz119. "You can count on me to make a good impression for you."

* * *

Back in SupremeTrekker’s cabin, the spring breakers were getting anxious to find out what was so mysterious about that kitchen.

"I think we should wait until after dinner," said Slider142. "That way no one will be around."

"Well, I guess you’re right," said SupremeTrekker. "I just can’t wait to see what all of the mystery is about."

"What do you think he is really hiding?" asked loveskitz.

"I don’t know," said Robin14334. "I can tell you this much. We are going to find out if it takes us this entire cruise."

Part 5 [posted: 4/14/99] 

After seeing the doctor, Quinn went back to the cabin to rest and Colin went to find Maggie. Maggie was feeling better by the time Colin arrived at her cabin but she was still looking very pale.

"What’s the matter Maggie?" asked Colin. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

"Well, in a matter of speaking…."said Maggie.

"Huh?" asked Colin

"Oh, it’s just that something strange happened to me today," said Maggie.

Maggie and Colin discussed the events that had happened and how she and Quinn had blackouts.

"It was really strange," said Colin. "Everyone around me passed out but I wasn’t affected. Were you alone? Did anyone else around you have a black out?"

"I don’t remember for sure," said Maggie. "I do know there were at least three others with me and they were standing over me when I woke up. I guess they were fine too."

"Well, I’m not sure what is going on here," said Colin. "But at least you and Quinn are alright."

Soon after, Remmie found Colin and Maggie. They filled him in on what had happened.

"I don’t know about you two," said Remmie, "But, all this talk is making me hungry. Why don’t we finish discussing it over dinner? Man, this cruise was suppose to be relaxing."

"I agree," said Colin. "I’m starving. Come on, let’s try to enjoy this while we can."

The three went to dinner and decided to let Quinn rest. Remmie told them how he was going to be working and singing in the lounge that evening and invited his friends to join him. They decided to go and get Quinn after dinner and meet Remmie in the lounge.

* * *

After dinner, Captain Blinker and SL4ever were discussing how well SL4ever’s meal had pleased Senator BonnieBee.

"Great job, SL4ever," said Blinker. If the Senator gives me this job I will make sure you are very well rewarded."

"No reward necessary," said SL4ever. "I was just helping out a friend. Besides, you do let me get away with my back room. But, there is one thing I might want."

"What’s that?" asked Blinker "You name it, you got it."

"Well, do you think you can introduce me to SouthernSlider?" asked SL4ever "She is so pretty and intelligent. Do you think she would be interested in checking out the back room?"

"I don’t know," said Blinker. "You can always ask her. I don’t think she would be offended."

* * *

QBall79 and ThomasMalthus were starting to wonder about the events that had taken place all in the first day of the cruise. They decided to ask Dr. OzSlider for some assistance.

"I heard you treated a few patients today who had blackouts," said QBall79. "May we see their charts?"

"I can’t show you their charts," said Dr. OzSlider. "They’re confidential."

"Can you at least discuss them in general?" asked ThomasMalthus. "We really need to figure out what it going on here.

Dr. OzSlider agreed to share what he knew with the detectives.

* * *

Colin and Maggie took a short walk after dinner and then after meeting up with Quinn headed to the lounge.

The lounge was packed with passengers. Remmie was getting excited. He reserved a seat up front for his friends along with newlyweds BritSlider and 1013shan. The music was upbeat and a lot of the passengers where dancing. Maggie and Quinn were not quite up for dancing so they decided to relax and get to know the couple at the table. When 1013shan and BritSlider introduced themselves Quinn thought for sure he had heard there names before but he couldn’t remember where.

"So, how long have you two been married," asked Maggie.

"Oh, just two days now," replied 1013shan. "We eloped. His parents were not too thrilled about him marrying a lawyer."

"Why is that," asked Quinn.

"Oh, they want lots of grandchildren," said BritSlider. "They think she won’t have time to have any with her job."

As the group discussed relationships Quinn wished he had stayed in bed. Maggie seemed really intrigued with the couple and their whirlwind romance. Just before Quinn zoned out completely, Remmie came onstage and announced that he was going to sing.

* * *

Just as Remmie began to sing, everything around him changed. Suddenly he was looking out into a crowd of thousands and singing the national anthem. Before he could figure out what was happening, he heard a loud crash. A bolt of lightning had come down on him. He stepped back and looked down. He saw himself laying dead on the stage before him. "What’s going on here?" though Remmie. "Am I dead?"

Before Remmie could think about it further, he woke up on the floor of the lounge stage with Colin holding his head up.

"Are you alright?" asked Colin.

"Yeah," said Remmie. "That was some ride. What happened?"

"Everyone in the room passed out," said Colin. "Well, everyone except me and our new friends 1013shan and BritSlider. Fortunately Quinn and Maggie were sitting down this time."

Quinn and Maggie ran up to the stage. "I think we need to find out what’s going on here," said Quinn.

Part 6 [posted: 4/18/99] 

TemporalFlux and Slider365 were waiting for Slider Sarah and Mychand to come out of the lounge. " Man, I hope they won’t be too mad at you after all of this," said Slider365.

"I don’t think they will," said TemporalFlux. "They knew ahead of time what might happen."

Just then Slider Sarah and Mychand walked out of the lounge and headed towards them.

"Is everything alright?" asked TemporalFlux. "Do you want to discuss it?"

"Not just yet," replied Mychand. "I think I need some time to absorb all of this. Can we discuss it tomorrow?"

Slider Sarah felt the same way and TemporalFlux agreed to meet them for breakfast in the morning.

* * *

The Spring Breakers decided it was time that they head for the kitchen. They had made solving this mystery their quest for the cruise. "Hey, maybe he keeps dead bodies in the back room," said Slider142. "That would be something to hide."

"Oh how disgusting," said loveskitz. "I think I may skip meals for the rest of the cruise now."

"No, I really don’t think it’s anything like that," said Robin14334.

"Me neither," said SupremeTrekker. "Come on, let’s find out."

The group made their way easily into the kitchen but everything was dark and quiet.

"I don’t see anything," said Robin14334. "Maybe Superslider was just teasing us."

"Wait a minute," said SupremeTrekker. "Look over here. There seems to be a back room."

The door to the room was locked from the inside. The group heard some mumbling inside but couldn’t make out what was being said.

"Excuse me, can I help you with something?" asked Jaguar71. "Are you all lost?"

The question startled the group. They turned around quickly to see Jaguar71 standing there.

"Uh, no sir," said Slider142. "We were just hungry."

"Yeah," said loveskitz. "Sorry, we are on our way out."

The group ran out of the kitchen in a hurry and Jaguar71 knocked on the back room door.

"Come on in Jag," said SL4ever. "Glad you could make it."

"Thanks," said Jaguar71. "You had a few visitors outside a minute ago. I guess they were curious about the room."

"Oh, yeah?" asked SL4ever. "We’ll take care of them later."

* * *

Meanwhile the Sliders had decided they would meet with the ship’s security, ThomasMalthus and QBall79 in the morning. After dropping Maggie off at her cabin, Colin and Quinn decided to take a walk on the deck before turning in.

"It’s beautiful out here," said Colin. "I’ve never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, I think so too," said Quinn. "It seems so calm."

"Are you ready to tell me about your dream now?" asked Colin.

"I guess I can tell you," said Quinn. "It was all about Wade. It was like she was right there with me. I haven’t told you a lot about Wade have I, Colin?"

"No, you really haven’t," said Colin. "I just figured it was too painful for you to talk about."

"Yes, it hurts a lot because I really miss her," said Quinn. "In my dream, we were newlyweds. We were on our honeymoon cruise I guess. It all seemed so real. I wish I understood all of this. Remmie dreamt he was hit by lightning while singing the national anthem but he never made it there to sing because of me."

"I don’t understand this either," said Colin. "I wonder why I haven’t been affected by all of this?"

"Maybe I don’t want to understand this Colin," said Quinn. "But I guess we do need to find out what’s going on here."

"We do need to find out," said Colin. "Come on, let’s get some sleep."

The brothers called it a night and headed for their cabin.

* * *

Spaz119 and HurriKain decided to have their own party in the lounge since everyone else had turned in for the evening. They decided to invite their new-found friends BritSlider and 1013shan to join them.

"Wow, we practically get the entire dance floor to ourselves," said BritSlider. "However can we thank you, HurriKain?"

"No problem," said HurriKain. "Glad you could join us. It’s Spaz119's birthday."

"Well, happy birthday," said 1013shan.

"Thanks," said Spaz119. "I’m glad you could join us too. Poor HurriKain needed a break."

* * *

Slider Sarah decided that she needed to talk to her parents, TheBean and SlidingThrough before she discussed what happened to her with TemporalFlux. The event in the lounge had left her shaken and confused. She needed some answers.

Quinn, Remmie and Maggie felt much better the next morning. The "dreams" they had didn’t seem to drain them as they had the night before. Though still puzzled, they decided to enjoy their breakfast before meeting with the ship security.

"Man, we haven’t eaten this good in a long time," said Remmie.

"I know, I don’t even know what half of this stuff is either," said Colin. "I just know it’s good."

"Well, enjoy it while you can," said Quinn. "We won’t be on this cruise forever."

"I wish we could," said Maggie. "Despite what has happened it’s better than most of the worlds we have been on."

"Well, at least the food is better than on most worlds we’ve been on," said Remmie. "Oh, but there was those grits we had in jail."

"Not the grits again," said Quinn. "I swear I will never try those."

The conversation remained light but Quinn still couldn’t get is mind off of his vision of Wade.

At the next table, Spaz119 and HurriKain were eating breakfast with BritSlider and 1013shan.

"We had a great time last night," said 1013shan. "Thanks for letting us join you."

"No problem," said HurriKain. "We were glad you decided to come."

"I’m still wondering what happened to all of those people in the lounge last night," said BritSlider. "It was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen."

"Well, I’m glad we missed it," said Spaz119. "HurriKain and I had better things to do."

"Yeah, you were lucky," said 1013shan. "I’m just wondering why my Britboy and I weren’t affected."

"Let’s not worry about," said BritSlider. "We’ll just consider ourselves lucky."

* * *

The Spring breakers were still upset that they were not able to find out anything about the back room of the kitchen the night before. The decided they needed another plan.

"Maybe someone else that works here will give us a straight answer," said Slider142. "What about that cute girl in the gift shop?"

"That’s a great idea," said loveskitz. "Why don’t we go ask her?"

"I agree," said SupremeTrekker. "Let’s do it!"

The group headed for the gift shop. They were more determined than ever to find out the "big" secret. Ann Fredericks, the gift shop attendant was just opening up the shop with the help of her boyfriend WMay.

"Can I help you with something?" asked Ann Fredericks.

"Yeah," said Robin14334, "We have a question for you. We were told to stay away from the kitchen and we got a little curious about it. Do you know what is going on in that back room?"

Ann Fredericks laughed. "Oh no," she said. "Not again."

"Not again?" asked Slider142. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, they always pull this on young groups that come aboard," said Ann Fredericks. "If you really want to see it I will be happy to take you there."

"Of course we do," said SupremeTrekker. "But what is in there?"

"It would be easier for me to show you," said Ann Fredericks. "WMay, will you watch my counter for me?"

"Sure," said WMay. "Hurry back. You know that I know nothing about these women’s clothes." Ann Fredericks laughed and headed out of the shop.

The group followed Ann Fredericks to the kitchen. They were still wondering what could possibly be behind that door that was such a mystery.

* * *

Meanwhile, Captain Blinker was enjoying breakfast with Senator BonnieBee and her assistant, SouthernSlider.

"Well, what do you think of the cruise so far?" asked Blinker.

"I’m not so sure," replied BonnieBee. "I mean last night was very disturbing. SouthernSlider came back from the lounge a little ill. What exactly happened in there last night?"

"My men are checking into it," said Captain Blinker. "Are you alright SouthernSlider?"

"Yes, I’m fine," said SouthernSlider. "I just had the strangest dream when I was in the lounge last night. I can’t figure out why I would dream about my ex-boyfriend."

"Well, until you figure out what is going on around here, I don’t intend to give you an answer on that job offer," said BonnieBee.

"I understand," said Captain Blinker. "I promise I’ll have an answer to all of this today."

* * *

Slider Sarah sat down in her cabin with her parents. "I need to talk to you about something," said Slider Sarah. "It’s really important."

"What’s the matter Sarah?" asked SlidingThrough. "You seem upset."

"Yeah," said TheBean. "Did you have a spat with your friends?"

"No, it’s nothing like that," said Slider Sarah. "Something happened last night. Something that is going to be hard for me to explain."

"You didn’t get into any kind of trouble did you?" asked SlidingThrough.
"No, not really," said Slider Sarah. "I just saw something last night and now I have a important question for the two of you."

"Go ahead," said TheBean. "You know you can ask us anything."

"Good lord," said SlidingThrough, "What in the world did you see?"

Slider Sarah took a deep breath. She didn’t know how she was going to ask her question without explaining just yet how she knew. "Am I adopted?" asked Slider Sarah. SlidingThrough and TheBean were shocked. "Why do you ask?" asked TheBean.

"I saw something last night," said Slider Sarah. "I guess you could say it was a vision."

"Well, I guess it isn’t important how you found out," said SlidingThrough. "Yes, you are adopted. I know we should have told you sooner but there never seemed to be a good time."

Slider Sarah was confused but told her parents that she would have to talk to them about it at a later time. She had to find TemporalFlux and tell him that his experiment worked.

Ann Fredericks and the Spring Breakers reached the kitchen and headed to the back room.

"Uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked SupremeTrekker. "What if they catch us?"

"Don’t worry," said Ann Fredericks. "I’m allowed back here."

"Come on guys," said Slider142. "Don’t you want to find out what is going here once and for all?"

Ann Fredericks took a large set of keys out of her pocket and found the key to the locked room. She opened the door and turned on the light. The room was lined with mirrors and benches and had a large screen television on one end.

"What is this place?" asked loveskitz. "This isn’t what I expected."

"What did you expect?" asked Ann Fredericks "This is the employee workout centre."

The group looked at each other in confusion.

"Why in the world were we told not to come near here?" asked Robin14334.

"Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense." Slider142 remarked.

"Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret," said Ann Fredericks. "You see the guys on board like to work out with Richard Simmons’s Sweatin’ to the Oldies and they are a little bit embarrassed by it. Superslider knows that SL4ever hates for anyone to find out so he likes to stick things in people’s minds so they will WANT to find out. He does this a lot."

"I can’t believe we fell for that, " said SupremeTrekker. "I say we find our Mr. Superslider and play a little trick of our own."

"Let’s do it," said Slider142.

"I’m game," said loveskitz.

"Me too," said Robin14334 "I have an idea."

Ann Fredericks laughed. "I would love to see what you do to him," she said. "Keep me posted. This should be interesting."

The group headed out to plot their revenge and Ann Fredericks headed back to the gift shop.

"So, did you show them the room?" asked WMay. "Did they believe what you told them? I know how convincing you can be."

"Yep, sure did," said Ann Fredericks. "Poor Superslider won’t know how to get out of this one."

"Well, that’s what he gets for almost blowing our secret," said WMay.

"Don’t worry," said Ann Fredericks. "No one will ever find out about the room."

Meanwhile TemporalFlux was having breakfast with Mychand, Slider Sarah and Slider365. They began to discuss the events that had occurred the night before. Slider Sarah told TemporalFlux that his "machine" did exactly what he had programmed it to do. Mychand agreed. Her experience was one she had rather not known about but she had made peace with it.

"What did you see Slider Sarah?" asked Mychand. "Was what you saw real?"

"Yes," replied Slider Sarah. "I saw myself with a totally different family. My parents admitted I was adopted."

Their conversation was cut short when Spaz119 came to the table. "Mychand," said Spaz119. "Captain Blinker needs you in his office. They are doing an investigation on what happened in the lounge last night and since you were one of the few crew members there they need to speak with you."
"Oh," said Mychand. "Alright, I’m on my way."

"I’m going with you," said TemporalFlux. "I guess it’s time I explain to everyone what I’ve been doing."

* * *

A large group had gathered in Captain Blinker’s office including the Sliders and the ship’s security ThomasMalthus and QBall79. Dr. OzSlider had been asked to join the discussion along with SouthernSlider and Senator BonnieBee. While they were waiting for Mychand and Ann Fredericks who had witnessed the first occurrence, Dr. OzSlider received a call for a medical emergency.

"What happened?" asked Captain Blinker. "What’s the emergency?"

"Oh, well it appears that two newlyweds, BritSlider and 1013shan were not paying attention to what they were doing and there was an incident at the pool. They need me down there right away. Sorry, I won’t be able to stay for the discussion."

As the doctor was leaving Spaz119 came in with Mychand, TemporalFlux and Ann Fredericks. "Thanks for finding them Spaz119," said Captain Blinker.

"You're welcome," said Spaz119 as she pinched Quinn on the cheek headed out he door.

 The discussion in the room became quite heated. Everyone had a different idea as to what was going on. Senator BonnieBee was trying to help Captain Blinker keep some kind of order with the group. Quinn, Maggie and the others gave descriptions of what had happened to them. After hearing what everyone had experienced TemporalFlux finally spoke up.

"I can answer all of your questions," said TemporalFlux.

"You know what’s going on here?" asked Quinn. "Why did we all black out and have those dreams?"

"They weren’t actually dreams," said TemporalFlux. "You see, I developed a machine that allows you to see your unfulfilled destinies. What you saw was what would or could have happened if certain occurrences hadn’t change your destiny."

"Why did you decide to try this machine out on us?" asked Maggie

"I wasn’t trying to harm anyone," said TemporalFlux. "I just felt a cruise ship was the safest place to try it. There were less chances of things going wrong."

"You could have asked for volunteers," said Remmie. "Man, you really freaked us out."

"Well, I tried to get volunteers in the beginning," said TemporalFlux. "No one seems to really want to know what could have been. Sometimes not knowing is easier."

"You’re right," said Quinn. "I didn’t want to know."

Colin grabbed Quinn’s arm. He knew what Quinn meant by his statement. Quinn now knew that if it were not for Sliding, he and Wade might be together.

"But you really never know," said QBall79. "I think we all make our own destinies by the choices we make everyday. I guess what you saw would have been a result of a different choice. We make so many choices in our lives. Who can say which choices change our course of destiny."

"He’s right," said Colin. "So TemporalFlux, are you saying that since I didn’t have any of these visions that I don’t have an unfulfilled destiny?"

"No yet," said TemporalFlux. "If you were not affected then at this point in your life you are following the course you were meant to follow."

"Do you mind meeting with me and sharing some of your information," asked Quinn. " I may have some information to give you in return."

"Sure," said TemporalFlux. "Why not?"

* * *

Captain Blinker and the others decided not to press any charges against TemporalFlux since no one was harmed by the incident. BonnieBee was so impressed that Captain Blinker had helped to resolve the situation that she gave him the job he wanted on her committee.

* * *

"Do you think he can give us any information we can use?" asked Remmie.

"I don’t know," said Quinn. "I am just wondering exactly how this machine works. Who really knows if what we saw was actually our unfulfilled destinies or a glimpse into another world. I need to try and find out."

"I’d like to go with you," said Colin. "This could interesting."

"Well, I think I’m going to go out and get some sun," said Maggie. "We still have some time left to enjoy the cruise and I’m not going to waste it."

"I’m with you girl," said Remmie. "Come on, let’s go check out that pool."

Alternate Earth 117
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