Date: 7/24/2000
From: Slider_Quinn21

*This story takes place after the events in "This Slide of Paradise". Its an alternate version of the events following that episode.

Quinn Mallory awoke in a Kromagg Prison Cell. He was in another one. Maggie was gone, probably dead. He hadn't seen her for days. His only hope lied in the fact that Remmy and Wade were safe, home.

He had a large task in front of him. He had to escape, find a sliding machine, find the timer, slide to the last world he was on and slide out. And he had to do this before his sanity ran out. He had been in the jail for days, weeks, months, years. He didn't know. Time ran together on him. He couldn't distinguish between hours and seconds.

Since their last meeting, the Kromagg cells had become more advanced. More powerful. The walls began to move. They would shift every once and a while, putting Quinn into a sort of trance. Being alone was beginning to run its course.

Then, she showed up. He had seen her before, just before Maggie disappeared. She was different, changed, since he saw her last. Both times. See, the woman was a familiar face. It was Mary. She wasn't dead. She had somehow survived the shot. Mary entered the Kromagg cell, pulled out a gun, and fired it at Quinn Mallory's face...

SLIDERS
"Rebirth"

STARRING
Jerry O'Connell as Quinn Mallory
Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles
Cleavant Derricks as Rembrandt Brown
and
John Rhys Davies as Arturo

Professor Max Arturo sat in the lab. He had been there for over a year, working on a sliding machine. He had seen Quinn take it apart, put it back together, and take it apart again a million times when the group was still together. But he couldn't seem to do it. He was beginning to believe the superiority of his pupil. He did something that Arturo couldn't do. It was very hard, but a year and a half is a long time. Ever since he had been left behind by his friends. He didn't hate them for it; he and his double were similar, too similar. It frightened him, though, knowing that his friends didn't know him well enough to distinguish between he and his double. But that was no matter. He had learned to cope with that. A year and a half is a long time.

But everything was all right. He stared at the prototype. It was his savior, but he was angry that he hadn't built it. His co-workers had. Once again, he would have to cope with his own inability to build a timer.

It would be hard, explaining this. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe it would go away, like the problem a year ago. The press on this world believes anything. They believed that his friends had stolen the timer, all of his information on it ,and any records ever made on it. And the way his double's men had trashed the museum helped a bit too. All of that helped in a way. The government paid in full for the laboratory and for the workers. He even received a large salary, a luxury car, and a luxury home. All of this for living a lie. Arturo hated it in a lot of ways, but lived it, knowing that he would be leaving soon enough.

But he had been thinking a lot recently. He had to leave, but where would he go? How would he slide alone, with absolutely no knowledge of where to go. Quinn and the others were home by now. He was sure of that. They had to have made it home. He was proud of Quinn. It was that pride that led him to have the timer built. But there was that one thing in his mind.

Arturo looked to the side of the room. There were two glass boxes. In one of them, there was a replica of the original timer. It was there for aesthetic purposes only. In the other, held an unending pain in Arturo's stomach. It was the timer he had built. The one that didn't work. After three months of work on it, it was abandoned. But the workers kept it there, as a goal that they must meet. But it reminded him of his failure. His inability to build a timer that worked. It represented Quinn's superiority over him.

He picked up the timer. It wasn't completely finished. The workers were going to make it look better, more pleasing to the eye. Then, it would be shipped to Washington, where it would be tested. Arturo would never see it again. This was his last chance. He looked at his watch. It was almost 5:00 AM. He had been pondering the situation for almost seven hours. It was time. His early-bird workers would arrive soon. So, Arturo stood up, and pointed the timer at the wall.

Rob Williams walked to the door of Professor Arturo's lab. It was he that had built the timer. It was his pride and joy. It was the reason he had been placed on this planet. The reason that he was alive. He walked down the corridor, towards the lab area. He arrived in the room, just to see Arturo open the vortex. For a second, both he and Arturo stared at the vortex. They were both astonished by its beauty. Then, Rob woke up and spoke to Arturo.

ROB
Professor, what are you doing?

Arturo didn't hear him. He was still in a daze. This was it. He jumped inside. Rob ran over to the vortex, staring at the clear color. It was almost transparent. He almost jumped inside but stopped. As much as he wanted to follow his creation, he wanted to see the vortex close. It would be just as beautiful. He could build another. But how could he explain this to his superiors? How could he tell them that the project must be delayed again? Rob had questions racing all around his mind. He tried to clear them, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes, and he leaped forward, seconds before the vortex closed.

Quinn woke in an examining chair. The chair was revolving. Or was the room revolving? Quinn couldn't tell. He was disoriented. He couldn't remember how he came to this room, or even how he had survived Mary's shot to the head. He barely heard the questions being asked. He couldn't understand the words, though. After every question, there would be a quick but sharp pain in his head. Quinn couldn't talk. The pain was severe, and the dizziness was overcoming him. After three more shocks, Quinn passed out.

He woke again in a forest. He had been to this forest before, but he couldn't remember when. He couldn't remember much. His memories of the past were fading, replaced by those of pain and misery. It all had to be a trick. He could remember the Kromaggs' faces. Their
ape-like faces swirled around in his mind. Mary approached him from behind.

MARY
How are you doing, Mr. Mallory?

Quinn heard Mary, but her words seemed slurred. He understood her enough to answer the question, though.

QUINN
I am very disoriented. I am having trouble staying awake and I am very dizzy.

Mary had trouble fully understanding Quinn's words. They were slurred together. She couldn't understand him, but she knew what he had said. The same type of experiments had been done on so many others. She understood the pain, now.

MARY
Mr. Mallory. Where are your friends? Where is Professor Arturo?

Quinn didn't understand. He was in too much pain to think. He was too disoriented to talk. Mary repeated her question with force in her voice. A threat was also added to her question. Quinn was only able to say the word, "gone", before he passed out again.

The slide was rough for Arturo. It could be explained by the weak timer and the fact that it was his first slide in a while. He wasn't used to it, like he was with the old one. But, as hard as it was for Arturo, it was ten times harder for Rob. He screamed the whole way. Arturo couldn't remember the sounds of the old vortex, so he wasn't worried of the screams in the vortex. Anyway, he was alone when he opened the vortex. No one was there to follow him.

Arturo exited the vortex, landing in a bush. Seconds later, Rob flew out, landing on top of Arturo. Arturo was both shocked and hurt. The bushes thorns hurt, but the shock of another slider took precedence over that.

ARTURO
What the devil?

Rob, a little dizzy, stood up. He was half-terrified of the slide. He could barely take the roller coasters at home, and the slide was at least a thousand times worse.

ROB
I had to come. Why did you leave?

ARTURO
I have to return home.

ROB
What do you mean? You just left home!

ARTURO
Its a long story.

ROB
But Professor Arturo, when will the vortex return us home?

Arturo didn't want to have to tell Rob that he wasn't going home, but he had to. Rob had to face the truth.

ARTURO
Mr. Williams, the vortex isn't going to return us home. I'm sorry, Mr. Williams.

Rob was angry and worried. He was lost.

To be continued...

Cool idea! Can't wait to read more <end>

Date: 7/24/2000
From: EustiSlider

8^)

<gives author the thumbs up sign>

Date: 7/24/2000
From: DoctorQuinn

How can I put this? THAT WAS SUPERB! Brilliant, great, wonderful, awesome...and any other words of praise you can think of.
I liked it a lot. ~:O)

The good doctor

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/22287
Nominated by Slider_Quinn21