This Episode first aired in the UK on 27th April 1998 and in the US on the 23rd(?)
June 1998
Director:Mark Sobel
Guest Stars:
David Birney (Cadmus), Tim Quill (Gareth), Connor Trinneer
(Samson), Katy Boyer (Jane), Maurice Chasse (Prisoner)
Background: None Necessary.
Plot:
The Sliders exit the vortex inside a monastery and are seen by a man who is later revealed
as the councillor. Rembrandt exits just before the vortex closes. There are no Kromaggs on
this world. Quinn tells the others that he can’t quite get his head round having a brother.
They discover that this world doesn’t like ‘Demon Darwin’ from a poster on the wall. The
councillor who saw them slide in reports in to his superior that they might be dangerous.
The sliders discover that the ‘Oracle’ is a big part of life here, but they don’t know what
the ‘Oracle’ actually is. They are invited to an ‘Oracle assembly’, but can find no polite
way to refuse without being mortally offensive, so they go. The assembly is run by the
‘Oracle’ Garath, and his chief councillor, who was the man who saw the sliders exit the
wormhole. At this assembly, a group of ‘welcomers’ are to be sent to the ‘other side’ via
a porthole which when activated seems to be a sliding machine. The sliders go to their hotel
after the assembly. They find out that the Oracle controls everything with the belief that
this life is only a preparation for the next. The Oracle also has restictive rules and has
stunted technological advances, although as Quinn points out, if the porthole really is a
sliding machine, it goes against all the Oracle’s teachings. They also find out that there
is a group opposed to the Oracle way of life, the Rationalists (and their more aggressive
supporters the Radical Rationalists), but the Oracle tolerates them, as long as they keep
quiet.
Quinn persuades the others to go back with him to have a look at the machine to see if there is anything useful inside it. When they get a look at it, they discover that it is not a sliding machine, but an incinerator. They are caught whilst looking at it on the stage(out of bounds) and are taken to the Oracle for questioning.During the questioning, Quinn makes the mistake of admitting that he's a scientist (prohibited on this world and punishable by death). Remmy and Maggie admit to being and entertainer and tourist respectively. The sliders tell the Oracle that the timer is communicator and the numbers show how much time until batteries need changing. They also say that they lost the other one. They are detained for possesion of a scientific device - a felony.
Quinn and Rembrandt are separated from Maggie and are put in a cell with another man. He tells that the Oracle has a system called reconfiguration which is used to stamp out his opponents and that it is done using chemicals and you end up a mindless robot. This is the punishment for thinking.
Jane, a Welcomer, visits Maggie in her cell. Maggie finds out that the 'Rad Rats' think the Oracle system is one of repression and thought control and that the Welcomers leave everything to the Oracle. Maggie tries to tell Jane about the incinerator, but Jane doesn't believe her.
The Oracle people cannot find out what the timer is, but they think it could be some kind of switch. The Sliders are sentanced to chemical reconfiguration.
On their way to being taken to chemical reconfiguration, the Sliders are broken ou by the Rad Rats and taken to their headquarters where scientific research is carried out. They meet the leader, Samson, who believes change will only come through revolution. Quinn explains to Samson about sliding. In return for help getting the timer back, Quinn assists with some research. Maggie helps co-ordinate the retrieval.
They get to the timer, but are caught by the Oracles men. They are all put in a cell together. Samson believes they will be rescued. Quinn taken for questioning, but will only say that if numbers run out, the Oracle will have 3 more Rad Rats on his hands. The Councillor knows that it controls the sliders' passage in and out.
The Councillor persuades the Oracle not to sentance them to chemical reconfig., but send them through the 'porthole' so they won't be made martyrs because the general population won't know they are dead. Jane is to go through with the Sliders and Samson and 3 other Welcomers. The Welcomers go first and are incinerated. As the Sliders and Samson are led to the 'porthole,' the Councillor gives them the timer, with not long to go until the slide. Just before they are incinerated, they slide.
They exit the vortex in a back alley, but decide they have to go back so that Samson can finish the fight for freedom. When they slid, the Rad Rats took over and the Councillor told people what was really happening with the Oracle. Samson emerges fron the vortex, followed by the sliders. Samson makes a speech (tells them how wonderful science is) and declares a vote to decide between the Oracle and the Rationalists. Sliders go outside to slide so that the congregation won't get any more shocks.