Date: 10/10/2000
From: SouthernSlider

Hello again. Hope everyone has sufficiently recovered from the weekend and from yesterday's chapter. Let's see what's happening elsewhere.
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United We Slide/Divided . . . We Disappear

Chapter Twenty-one

Conie heard voices again. Images of water and people
swirled around in his mind. He was falling - falling fast
and hard. But it wasn’t the same kind of falling he had
done when sliding. He wasn’t in the wormhole.

He had to wake up. What was it they said? If
you dream you’re falling and hit the ground, you’ll die?
He couldn’t die. He didn’t want to die. Life had
certainly taken a different turn, but he had adjusted; and
he liked what he was doing.

His eyes fluttered open. Something -- someone
-- was in front of him. People. Kelly?

“Remmy! He’s waking up.” Maggie said.

Conie groaned. “Kelly? Kelly, is that you?” He
was still very groggy and couldn’t focus. There was
only a blur before him.

“Conrad. Conrad Bennish. My name is
Rembrandt Brown. This is Maggie Beckett.”

Conie said nothing at first. Remmy wasn't sure
the man heard him. "Conrad, can you hear me?" he
asked.

"Rembrandt Brown? I know that name," he said
with halted words. "Brown! You're the man that slid
with Quinn Mallory." Remmy and Maggie looked at
each other, stunned by his words. "I guess that doesn't
make sense to you, man." Conie assumed he was
speaking to Remmy’s double on this world.

"It makes perfect sense. What do you know
about sliding?"

Conie squinted his eyes trying to match a face to
the voice he heard. He still couldn't focus. "You . . .
you know about sliding, man? I don't remember
anybody on this world mentioning it. Righteous, dude."

“Conrad. Please! Tell us what you know.”
Maggie chimed in with impatience.

Conie took another minute to collect his
thoughts. His vision was still a little blurred, but he was
beginning to see the strange faces before him more
clearly. He wondered where Kelly was, and why these
strange people would be with him. What on earth had
happened?

“Man, what is going on around here? Somebody
answer my questions first.”

Remmy took a deep breath and eyed Maggie.
They both knew in order to get answers they were going
to have to give some. He gave her a “We’ve got no
choice.” look and began to explain.

“Conrad. You were in an accident. A plane
crash. Do you remember that much?” asked Remmy.

“A plane crash? Yeah, man. I was in a plane.”
He paused. “Kelly! B. J., the others. Are they all right,
man?” He tried to rise, but the pounding in his head
forced him back to the pillow.

“We don’t know, Conrad. That’s what we want
to find out. You have to help us. You have to try to
remember some things.”

“Who are you guys?” Conrad asked.

“Look, Conrad. This is all a very complicated
story. I hope you can follow it.” Remmy took a deep
breath. “We are friends of Quinn Mallory.”

“Quinn Mallory! No way, man! This is too far
out!”

Remmy assumed this Conrad was talking about
the Quinn Mallory of this world. He knew he would
have to go into detail about sliding and doubles to
straighten everything out. But the man had mentioned
sliding so he was hoping he could get through things
with a minimum of clarification.

When he started in, Remmy noticed Conrad
hanging on his every word. As the story inched along,
Conie’s face grew pale and his eyes, wide. He couldn’t
believe what he was hearing. After all this time, and all
those worlds, he was finally connecting with his old
physics buddy and the professor. Kelly would be
ecstatic. Kelly! He had to know about Kelly.

“Hey, man. Before I hear another word. I need
to know about my friends on that plane with me. Are
they all right?”

“We don’t know, Conrad. Quinn went searching
for you guys. It’s my understanding that you were the
only one they found on one of the outer islands. At
least, you were the only one they brought back. I
haven’t been able to speak to Quinn. He left here before
we arrived,” Remmy said.

Conie’s heart sank. Surely he wasn’t the lone
survivor. Surely not.

Remmy continued his story, telling about Colin,
even about the awful fight he and Quinn had had over
Wade, and why they all were so scattered. When he
mentioned Wade’s name, Conie froze.

“What about Wade? Where is she?” he asked
frantically.

Remmy wondered why he would be so
concerned about her. Didn’t he just explain they were
sliders from another dimension? This wasn’t Conrad’s
Wade they were talking about. Maybe the bump on his
head had him disoriented. He tried to explain to the
man.

“No. No, you don’t understand, dude. Listen to
me,” Conie said.

He then explained his own situation, and how he
knew about sliding. As more and more of his story
developed, Remmy and Maggie couldn’t believe what
they were hearing. This was the ‘real’ Conrad Bennish?
Quinn’s Conrad? Someone from his earth? It was all
Remmy could do to keep himself from grabbing Conrad
in a bear hug.

After a lot of questions and interruptions on both
sides, they all began to understand the present situation.
It was unbelievable that they had all finally met up with
each other. The only downside was the loss of Wade.
Conie knew Kelly would be devastated.

When the background story seemed to be settled,
Remmy and Maggie returned to grilling Conie about the
crash and his rescue. They begged him to think, to try
and remember something, anything. After a few
minutes, he responded.

“Yeah, man. I do remember something. I wasn’t
alone. I remember coming in and out of awareness.
There were others. But why was I the only one brought
back?”

“Are you sure, man? Are you really sure? This
wasn’t some hallucination, was it?” Remmy asked. He
didn’t want to get his hopes up too soon.

“No, man. I promise. There was someone there
with me. It . . . it was Kelly and . . . and Colin! It was
the new guy. You said that was Quinn’s brother?
Really cool! I never knew he had a brother.”

Maggie and Remmy turned to stare at each other.
They said nothing as Remmy took her in his arms.
Conrad smiled and shook his head. “Big time relief,
huh, man.”

“Remmy, we have to find Quinn and have a look
at that island,” Maggie said.

“Damn straight, girl. That’s exactly what we’re
going to do.” He turned to Conrad and grabbed his
hand. “Thank you, man. You have made the Cryin’
Man real happy today.”

“Anytime, dude. Just hope it all turns out, man.
And wish we could have some happy news for Kelly.”

Their smiles faded as he made reference to
Wade.
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Stay tuned.

We're getting somewhere now.

Date: 10/10/2000
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

Somehow I don't think you're quite through with the twists, but we seen to be getting close to a resolution. Looking forward to the next chapter.

DMD

WhooHoo!!!

Date: 10/10/2000
From: dellyone

Cool. Conrad finally met Remmy and Maggie. I can't wait for the next chapters.

dellyone

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Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz