Date: 08/17/2001
From: SouthernSlider

Gasp! Two in a row? Just because I'm back, doesn't mean everyone else can leave?

But, anyway ------------- IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!! Happy, happy, happy!

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Chapter Twenty-two

Remmy’s fingers trembled as he tried to remove the chain. His doubts raced through his mind, but he pushed them aside. He had to do this; he had to make things
right. The chain made a soft clicking sound as he pulled it through the hole.

Wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead, he took a deep breath, staring at the gaping slot. He examined the key pad, then looked for instructions.

“Surely, there’s something to tell you how to run this thing. Why even gas stations have instructions on their tanks.” He looked around in disgust. “Okay, Cryin’
Man, you can figure this out. You’ve got a little intelligence, even if Q-ball and the professor never thought so.”

Slowly, he raised the card. An uncertainty crept into his expression as he slipped the end of it into the slot. Hesitation. <Can I really do this?> An image of Wade.
Maggie’s stabbing words -- words that made him cringe. <Hell, yes. I have to.> He pushed. The card silently disappeared.

Remmy felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine. He waited. Nothing happened. No vortex sucking him into the past, no flashing lights, no strange tingling sensation --
except for the one his fears were producing. He looked around.

“Maybe I need to be sitting in the chair.”

As he lowered himself into the soft leather, he noticed the flashing instructions on the panel. ENTER MONTH, DAY, AND YEAR. The words slapped at his face. When should he go back? To Maggie? To Wade? This wasn’t as easy as he thought. But maybe that was it; he hadn’t thought. More hesitation as his fingers hovered over the panel of numbered keys.

<What about going back to the beginning?> Remmy’s throat constricted. “Now where did that come from?” He struggled to forget that thought, but it refused to dissipate. He could go back home, right to the moment he was driving his caddy to the game. He would take an alternate route, and never go by Quinn’s house. Yeah, that was it. His finger closed in on the keys as he mustered up the correct date in his mind.

The slick, enameled plastic burned his finger at first touch. <No, wait. I can’t do that.> It wouldn’t save Wade. She would go on that crazy ride with Q-ball anyway. His thoughts raced ahead. But maybe, she wouldn’t leave Quinn and Maggie alone. <She would stay with them instead of going on with me. Yeah.>

Indecision. It clawed at him until his nerves were raw. <Think, man! No, don’t think. Just do it.> His finger hit the first key. More hesitation. Then, the second. Before he knew it, the entire date had been programmed. He froze, waiting for . . . what? To be sucked back in time? To disintegrate to another place like Captain Kirk? What did he expect to happen? Whatever it was . . . it didn’t.

His eyes fell on the panel. Another flashing direction. ENTER ACCESS CODE LETTER.

“Great! Just great. What access code letter?” He tried to think. Just one letter? Well, he had twenty-six choices. Would it deny him access until he hit the right one? Would it stop the whole process it he didn’t get it right on the first try? <One stinking letter. Think, man!>

If it were just one letter, it couldn’t be a complicated code where every authorized person had a different one. One letter. The image of the doors in the corridor suddenly
materialized. Room numbers. No good.

He sat up suddenly. “The card!” There had been something written on the card. “Decades and letters! Now if I can just remember.” He racked his brain. The nineties
were first, so maybe it would be A. Would it be that obvious? There was nothing to do but try. His shaky finger hit the letter A.

***

Quinn and party ran out the door. Quinn was in a hurried frenzy, his fears radiating to the others, and causing them to take up his anxious feelings. When he saw the slumped figure a ways down the hall to his right, he stopped, causing a collision behind him. He ran ahead before the successive bumps reached the last person.

“Remmy?” He saw it wasn’t him before he reached the prone figure.

“It’s one of the guards,” said Jim. He pointed out the empty holster. “We’ve got a crazy man on the loose around here, and he’s now armed.”

Quinn looked at the professor. “Remmy wouldn’t shoot anyone.”

“My good man, how can you be sure? He’s desperate to save his Wade. Desperate people do desperate things. He attacked this guard, didn’t he?”

Maggie stepped forward in Remmy’s defense. “Remmy wouldn’t shoot anyone.” She reemphasized Quinn’s words with a strong glare. “Besides, maybe this guard attacked him. He was probably just defending himself.”

“Regardless of what took place here, we have to find him.” Colin’s voice of reason stepped in. “If his plan is to go back in time, we have to get to him before he
makes that mistake.”

Quinn looked at his brother with suppressed pride. When those around him were losing their minds, there he was, rock steady, thinking logically. <He must have a bit of
Mr. Spock in him.>

Quinn rose and grabbed Colin’s shoulder. “He’s right. We have to move now. Colin, you and Maggie go with Mr. Austin and search that way. Professor, you and Bert follow me.” He turned to his left. “When you find him, constrain him, and ask questions later. Knock him out if you have to. I want him in the present -- as horrible as I’ve made
it for him.” He said that last with a sigh and a bit of despair. It seemed he couldn’t do anything but ruin everyone’s lives.

Colin grabbed his arm and squeezed in sympathetic understanding. “We’ll find him, brother. Everything will be all right.” He knew Quinn’s train of thought, and knew
his own words were of no comfort to him, even though he half-smiled and returned the squeeze. His brother would never stop feeling responsible for everyone and their actions. He sighed and let his brother go.
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Have a great weekend!

SS

Will They Get There in Time?????

Date: 08/17/2001
From: sliderlynn

Read both chapters tonight.Very good. I'm sitting on
the edge of my seat. I hope that COLIN and company
will get to Remmy first!!!!! I will be waiting
patiently for the next chapter. :)
By the way,SS I have to work this weekend. I haven't
had a weekend off at all this month. Can't wait till
next Friday.When my hubby and I punch out of work,we
will be on two weeks vacation. Which I really need.
Have a nice weekend. :)

Go Remmy go! Go Remmy go!

Date: 08/18/2001
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

Sorry, it's getting close to football season. I know, they'll probably stop him. Still, a timeline without a Maggie.... that's something to cheer for.

DMD

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/1095/3544
Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz