Date: 9/19/2000
From: SouthernSlider

Good morning, all. Hope your day has dawned glorious, and the rest of your week will be the tops.
Thanks for the suggestion, DMD...and the compliment. I'll check into posting elsewhere.
On with the story.
--------------------------------

 

United We Slide, Divided . . . We Disappear

Chapter Nine

Colin tumbled out of control in the violent void. He tried to right himself, but to no avail. Up ahead he could see a woman spinning just as roughly. Wade. Wade and Quinn. His
brother held onto her hand, but the force was so great she eventually slipped away from his grasp and disappeared in the swirl. He tried to make his way to Quinn and held out
his hand to him, but his brother wouldn’t take it. He spun away from Colin and eventually followed Wade into oblivion.

Colin suddenly found himself underwater, thrashing wildly, trying to decide which way would take him up to the surface. No matter the direction, his clawing and
grasping only found more water. He couldn’t breath. It was getting dark -- too dark to see. He sank further and further into the depths.

He jerked and his eyes opened suddenly. His lungs grabbed for air and took in great gulps. Raising his head and looking around, he found himself on a beach, not
underwater. A dream, he thought. No, a nightmare. Two people lay to his right, nothing but ocean in front of him. To his left, the sky was trying to lighten as the clouds soaked up the first rays of the coming sun perched just beyond the horizon. A smoldering ring of
ashes lay at his feet.

Where was he? And how did he get here? His head throbbed as he tried to concentrate. Pressing his fingers to his forehead to subdue the constant pounding, he discovered a gauzy bandage and tape. He had been hurt and someone had attended to his wound. As he tried to rise, a sharp pain traveled through his side and cut his breath short.
He felt of his ribs. A mere touch brought on more pain. He slowly returned his head to the makeshift pillow of palm fronds, and released a sigh.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the figure next to him start to stir. It rolled over, coming much closer to him. A female. He tried to peer over that body to look at
the other one. A male. But who? The woman’s eyes fluttered open as she turned her head toward him. When she saw him staring she suddenly raised up on one elbow.

“You’re awake! Thank goodness,” said Kelly. “How do you feel? Much pain?”

“My head throbs and my ribcage is sore.”

“I tried to bandage your cut as best I could in the raft.” He turned to see the large yellow object further down the beach. He hadn’t noticed it before. “You must have
bruised you ribs in the crash.”

“What crash? I do not remember anything. What happened?” he asked.

“Colin? Do you remember who I am? Please tell me you remember something.” she said, sitting up completely.

Colin spent a few minutes trying to recall. Quinn. That wasn’t him on the other side of this woman. No, of course not. They had had a fight. He left. Suddenly he
jerked up to look at her.

“Kelly! You are Kelly, the singer,” he said. Then it all came flooding back. The awful fight, his leaving. The timer counting down to zero. Quinn was gone, and he was
stranded on this world. Stranded. The word suddenly took on a whole new meaning as he surveyed his surroundings. “Where are we? What happened.”

“We took a plane ride around the islands. It crashed into the ocean. I really don’t remember much else. When I woke up we were floating in the water. Cal, B.J. and Walker are gone. You, Conie, and I are the only ones who survived.” Her eyes began to well up with tears as she spoke of her lost companions.

Colin reached for her and pulled him to her, as much for his own comfort as hers. They were both lost, stranded souls. He had lost his sliding companions and she, her
fellow musicians. What now?

“It will be all right, Kelly. We will make it somehow.” He tried to reassure her as best he could, but he knew for the moment it really wasn’t much comfort.

After a few minutes, Kelly composed herself, and tried to tell Colin all that had taken place since she had regained consciousness. He surveyed his surroundings as she
spoke. From what he could remember in talking to the pilot, he had to assume someone would be looking for them. All the flight logs and everything that had to be taken care of before take-off was of interest to someone or they wouldn’t do them. They would just have to bide their time until the authorities located their position.

Kelly had been quite level-headed given the situation, so Colin knew he could depend on her. He moved gingerly, giving into his ribs on certain movements, to check
on Conie. He was still unconscious, but his pulse was strong. Maybe there was no cause for alarm yet, in his case. His stomach protested suddenly from the lack of food, and roared like a lion.

“Do you think we might find something to eat around here?” he asked.

“I didn’t veture around too much when we floated in here. It was almost dark. But there should be something around here we could eat. I don’t think it would be dangerous to leave Conie alone while we search, as long as we don’t go too far,” she answered. She helped Colin to his feet, and they went in search of food in the dense growth to their backs.

When they found a banana tree, macadamia nuts and coconuts, they filled their arms with as much as they could carry and returned to the beach. Colin downed several bananas before he felt comfortably full. Kelly reminded him they might be here for some time, so to take it easy on their food supply. They also found a small waterfall and a pool
of fresh water not too far from where they had camped. Kelly erased the thoughts of what a perfectly romantic place this could be when images of her deceased companions flitted through her mind.

The rest of the morning and afternoon passed with the two of them exploring their temporary home and making plans for a rescue. They checked on Conie occasionally and
found no change. Kelly began to worry. When the sun started its downward descent, Colin and Kelly walked over the rocks jutting out into the water to watch the coming
sunset. Their conversation drifted to their personal lives.

Colin picked up on Kelly’s melancholy feelings, and knew it was more than just losing members of her band. She had hinted on more than one occasion about a sister. She had wanted him to talk earlier; maybe she should do the same.

“Kelly, remember when you said that talking about your problems would help?” He waited for a response; when she barely nodded, he continued. “I think the same applies to you. On more than one occasion you have mentioned a sister, and I sense there is a problem there. Would you like to talk about it?”

Kelly looked at him intently, and hesitated before speaking. She wanted to talk, wanted to tell the whole sordid story to someone, but she knew it was so unbelievable
that he would think her a lunatic. How could she tell this man who had never even flown in an airplane before that she had been wandering through the universe from one world to
the next. It was crazy.

“Colin. The whole thing is so outlandish; you will think me a madwoman.”

Before she could say more, he interrupted. “I have a few outlandish tales of my own, Kelly. Believe me, I have a very open mind.” Colin decided then, he wanted to tell
her the truth. If she would share her story, he would confess that he was not really Colin Madison, as he had claimed, but Colin Mallory, slider. As wild as her tale might be, she couldn’t top that.
---------------------------------------

Wanna bet? Boy, are they both in for a surprise.

Woo hoo! Getting down to business!

Date: 9/19/2000
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

This is one conversation I have got to hear. More great stuff SS. Looking forward to New Mexico State? We've got Kentucky coming to the Swamp this weekend.

DMD

:-)

Date: 9/19/2000
From: Robin14334

Now it's *really* getting good. Not that it wasn't good before.... It was very good before, and now it's better... Um, I think I'll stick to the Beatles. But write more, please. :-)

~Robin

Oh yeah!

Date: 9/19/2000
From: Foxtrottin

Definitely looking forward to their "stories"! Keep up the great work SS :o)

Fox

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/1095/2850
Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz