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The following piece contains the further adventures of the quantum
quartet otherwise known as THE SLIDERS. This document is encouraged to
be freely distributed but the characters and most of the elements of this
story belong to St. Clare Entertainment and Universal Studios. They
have been used without permission, but no copyright infringement is
intended as this story is for the enjoyment of Sliders fans everywhere
and not for profit. Enjoy the story and please send any comments to the
e-mail address below as I would love to hear from you.
Crossing the Rubicon
Written on July 25, 1997
by TemporalFlux (temporalflux@hotmail.com)
The following story takes place in the continuity set forth by my prior
stories also found on this site. You will need minimal knowledge of
"Possible Finale Resolution" to fully understand the beginning of the
story, but it is not necessary for the enjoyment of the story as a whole.
Please read on, and if you have any questions refer to the story
mentioned above for the answers or feel free to e-mail me.
Part 1
As Quinn rips into the circuitry that controls and powers the
speeding bullet train, he can't help but think of the Professor. He can
almost hear his British accent complaining about the below standard
engineering on this world where Japan won World War II and thus took over the
United States as their own. He doesn't have much time for stray
thoughts, though, since those Manta ships are closing in despite the 200
mph speed the train has achieved.
"Q-ball! What are you doing?!?" Rembrandt cries as he unbuckles
the empty cars behind the train that are not only dead weight but only
serve as good decoys for their pursuer at the moment, "whose idea was it
to try to outrun them anyway? I thought we were going to hide out in
here!" Maggie speaks up, "So, I guess you thought they would inspect the
entire train BUT the engine...what does it matter anyway, we'll just open
the vortex and escape to another world in just a few minutes." "Well, if
you would discuss what you want to do with the rest of us BEFORE you do
it, then you might know that the vortex doesn't work like that!!" exclaims Wade.
Quinn turns to his fellow travelers holding a handful of newly
liberated wires from the console, "Look guys, what matters now is that we
get out of this alive...we can't open the vortex in the train because
it's moving and the portal is stationary, but if I can boost enough power
into the timer, then we can open the vortex far enough in front of the
train so that the vortex can have time to form and the engine can pass through
it...of course, that will likely burn out the power chip of the timer in the process,
but we'll deal with that on the next world....I hope."
Quinn makes the final connections into the timer just as it enters
the five second countdown. Sparks fly from the console, but the
others aren't concerned about Quinn's safety or the train's rapid
deceleration caused from the power transferring to the the timer.
Instead, they are concerned about the pile of debris that now rests on the
tracks in front of them. Debris that was expelled from the crater in the
nearby mountain courtesy of stray laser blasts from the Kromagg
Dynasty...
Part 2
Quinn makes the final connection and immediately feels the timer
begin to heat up from the power now surging through it. He looks up to
give the others a redundant warning about the bumpy ride ahead due to the
fact that few parallel worlds have magnetic train tracks laid everywhere, but he
stops himself.
Upon seeing the fear in his companions eyes, he quickly whips his
head around to see the fast approaching pile of boulders and on pure
instinct, he points the now smoldering timer at the window and presses
the button. He doesn't feel the pain of the heat burning his hand, he
only sees a brilliant flash of light, hears a noise equal to that of
sonic boom and then......silence.
Quinn opens his eyes again to blurred vision and a change of venue
as he now has Wade over him, looking down with caring eyes. "We made it
Quinn," she says in a soft voice, "are you alright?" Quinn picks
himself off the floor, now noticing the pain his burned hand now
possesses and with a slight flinch he murmurs, "Yeah, I'm fine....where
are the others?" "They went to see where we wound up this time, now let
me see that hand," Wade commands with her usual girlish charm as she
begins to wrap her scarf around Quinn's injury. Wade only partially
finishes her task because Quinn, with a new sense of urgency, jerks his
hand away and says, "There's no time to worry about that right now,
where's the timer?!?"
Walking over to where he was standing just minutes ago, Quinn picks
up the now slightly deformed piece of plastic that has held them prisoner
for 3 years now. "Well, it's hard to believe by looking at it, but the
readout still works on the timer. We have a few days here, but the
problem is that as soon as I unhook it from the train's batteries, the
timer's going to go dead. The power chip was toasted by our last little
stunt, but at least the photon scrambler* was working when we entered
the vortex. We've got to find somewhere to fix up the timer while we've
still got some time." No sooner than Quinn gets the words from his
mouth, Remmy comes to the door, "You guys better get out here!" Quinn
and Wade emerge from the wreckage of the train to see one of our world's
great wonders in the distance...the Hoover Dam.
"I didn't think we could slide this far from L.A." Maggie says in
here usual tone. Quinn replies, "The timer has a 400 mile radius and
we're on the outskirts of that...at least we're not too far from
civilization. Those lights in the distance must be Las Vegas." "Vegas!!"
Remmy shouts, "Now that's what I'm talking about! I remember when The
Topps played the Sands. Man! That audience was..."
As Remmy continues his rememberance, the Sliders begin to move
toward the bright lights in the distance, they fail to notice a sign that
the train knocked over when they abruptly entered this dimension. It
simply read, "Now Entering The Trans-Dimensional Warp
Facility...Launching Your World Into a New Plane of Existence"...
*Photon Scrambler - a device created by Quinn Mallory with the help of
his double in my season 3 finale resolution. It scrambles photon trails
left when sliding so that the Sliders cannot be followed into the next
dimension....when it works.
Part 3
"I don't remember Vegas being this far from the Dam!" Rembrandt
complains. "Well, we are on a parallel earth, remember? Anyway, we're
almost there." Maggie says as they top what seems more like a mountain
than a hill.
Our quantum quartet climbs over the hill, but once on the other side
they see something they didn't quite expect. On earth prime, Vegas was a
town of bright lights and huge, gaudy buildings, but this earth's Vegas
was more of a complex than a city and there was only one building that
really stood out...a towering building that might even rival the Sears
Tower in height and at the top was a glowing dome that seemed to pulse
with energy much like a human heartbeat.
"What the hell..." Remmy says in shock. "Yeah, I don't think Elvis
would have made a song about this town," sarcasm dripping from Wade's
words. In a sense of urgency, Remmy grabs Wade's arm, "No! I meant what
the hell was THAT!!" Remmy quickly throws his hand up in the air to
point at a blurred, translucent image which almost immediately de-cloaks
into the crystal clear image of an approaching helicopter. A search
light flicks to life and illuminates the spot where our quantum quartet
stands. "Stay where you are!" a loudspeaker from the copter commands,
"We are dispatching personnel to your location." With that said, the
sides of the copter open and men with jetpacks begin to quickly descend
to the ground in front of Quinn and Co.
"Shouldn't we try to get out of here?!?" Maggie says with a hint of
concern. Quinn looks over towards her, "Well, we can't outrun them and
there's no where to hide our here. Just be ready to improvise." "The
art of sliding, right?" Maggie responds.
The troops land and the leader uses the hand which is not carrying a
firearm to lift his visor in order to get a better look at the Sliders.
"Commander Beckett!" He says with surprise, "You're back already? And it
looks like you caught the renegade (he says as the troops grab
Rembrandt)! The emperor will surely be pleased by this news!"
Part 4
Quinn and Wade watch in shock as the "agents of the empire" grab
their long time friend, Rembrandt Brown, who is screaming several
explicatives and such phrases as "Hey!! Don't wrinkle my suit, you Darth
Vader lookin...". Maggie does not falter, though. She calmly looks to
the leader of the darkly clothed soldiers and says, "Uhhh, Yes! I have
returned with the renegade so that he can finally be brought
to...uhh...justice for his crimes against the.....ummm...empire!"
"Excellent!" cries the leader as color drains from Wade's face with
this latest impulsive decision by Maggie, "I don't know how you do it,
Commander. By the way, what happened to your equipment and who are these
strangers with you?" Maggie quickly responds, "These are recruits for
the empire...who were..ah...instrumental in the capture of the traitor.
My equipment was comprised in the mission...but that has never stopped me
before." "We expect nothing else," says the leader, "come on, we'll give
you a lift back to the base. The emperor will want to see this as soon
as possible!" Then giving a type of salute that is something reminiscent
of the sign given by the Axis powers in WWII but inexplicably combined
with the ritual that most football players give when they make a
touchdown, he turns and motions for the helicopter to land. Quinn can't
help but snicker a bit at that sight.
Taking the opportunity of the distraction provided by the copter
landing, Wade leans up to Maggie and whispers with a slightly forceful
tone, "What Do You Think You're Doing?!?" but Quinn breaks in to say,
"Shhh. Give her a chance, this may work out. Just keep playing along
with this, Maggie, and we may be able to get the equipment we need plus
get out of here. Just make sure you stay with Remmy and don't let
anything happen to him. If something starts to go wrong, just try to get
out of there and meet us back at the trai..." The leader starts to walk
back over. "Let's go!" he shouts and Maggie casually nods at Remmy and
the others with an expression of assurance as they enter the helicopter.
"No turning back now," Quinn thinks to himself as the copter rise above
the ground and begins its journey to the city, "I just hope we pull this
one off...."
Part 5
The helicopter lands and Quinn keeps telling himself, "We've been in
worse spots..." hoping that will alleviate the anxiety he feels for going
into a situation that only a crazy or desperate man would go into. He
feels their group and current situation fits into the later. Of course,
being the eternal scientist, he also has in mind what that tower must be
for as it now appears to be some type of energy conduit upon a closer
look. He doesn't have time to worry about that, though, because the
helicopter doors open and the two agents begin to escort our group into
the building at the base of the tower which appears to be a headquarter
of some kind.
Once inside, Quinn and Maggie both see that no else happens to be
around at the moment, and with a quick sudden motion they overtake the
agents and free Remmy from captivity. The two agents hit the ground, and
Remmy turns around to his friends, "What do you think you were doing?!?
I could've been killed or worse...and I thought I was going to be on
vacation, being back in Vegas..." Quinn breaks in, "Come on Remmy, let's
get these guys out of the hall before somebody else sees us! Anyway, you
knew we wouldn't let anything happen to you.....on purpose." Rembrandt
gives Quinn a sarcastic, squinted look and continues on mumbling to
himself as they pull the bodies off into a broom closet that Maggie found
on one side of the hall.
After dragging the agents into their hiding place, Quinn tells Wade
to come with him so that they can go find the parts they need. He needs
her because they will probably have to liberate some information from the
computer in order to accomplish finding what they seek. He then tells
Remmy and Maggie to find a way out of there and get back to the train
since Remmy appears to be in some danger from something on this world and
Maggie has some authority here. Reluctantly, Remmy goes along with this,
even though he's still a bit miffed about being the "bait" in this
operation, and he and Maggie leave the group to find their escape.
Quinn and Wade explore the complex for awhile, wondering the entire
time why it's so empty for apparently being such an important building.
They enter a room at the end of the hall, to find what they needed
without much trouble....in fact, it's a little too much of what they
needed. After all, in this armory they had stumbled across, why would
there be a timer exactly like the one they discovered on the Egyptian
world....even more, why would there be enough to equip an army?
Part 6
Quinn and Wade are astonished at the site of the multitude of timers
before them. Wade slowly walks over to them and carefull pulls one free
from the foam casing which conforms around the familiar shape. "How is
this possible, Quinn?" she says in a slightly uneasy voice. Quinn
answers her in a tone similar to the one she delivered, "Well, there's
several possibilites. After all, there are an infinite number of earths
so anything is possible. Of course, the timer was counting down when we
found it on Egypti..." Quinn never finishes his statement, he grabs
Wade's free hand, and starts walking for the door.
"What's wrong with you?!?" Wade exclaims as Quinn continues to walk
swiftly down the corridor with her arm in tow. "I think I know what's
going on here." Quinn says in calm but slightly paniced voice,
"Regardless of the fact that those timers look just like ours, they prove
that this world has sliding technology. This further proves something
else I've been thinking...that tower outside is not just for decoration.
That's a larger version of what you're holding in your hand (referring to
the timer that Wade confiscated from the room), and with the way the
tower was glowing and the fact that this building is obviously not long
been evacuated, they must be about to use it." Wade, still being a bit
puzzled by this, responds, "But what would they be using a timer that
size for?" Quinn stops and turns to her with seriousness overflowing
from his eyes, "Simple, with the dam being close enough to use a power
source...a LARGE power source, and the size of the energy conduit used in
breaking the dimensional barrier, this person intends to slide this
entire WORLD into another dimension! The personnel were at least smart
to evacuate the complex in knowing that the vast amount of energy being
released in order to accomplish feat would be sufficent to disentegrate
them...and us if we don't leave...but they apparently either didn't think
about or were mad enough to ignore that by shifting the mass of an entire
planet into another dimension it will....well, be really bad. We've got
to stop it Wade, before it's too late. Now, let's go find the control
center."
Just as Quinn turns around to continue on his frantic search, a
metal door quickly slams down in front of him and Wade. "Maybe we aren't
alone in here after all..." Wade points out with her usual accuracy.
Quinn and Wade turn and begin to go down the opposite direction of the
corridor where they started from, and after choosing to go straight
instead of turning when they had the opportunity, another metal door
slams down in front them at an incredible rate of speed. Quinn rubs his
brow in frustration until the pain from moving his burned hand makes him
stop, "Well..looks like we go that way, unless you've got a butane torch
in your pocket..." "I just hope Remmy made it out okay," Wade thinks
to herself as she shakes her head and follows Quinn into the uncertain
fate of the path that has obviously been laid before them.
Part 7
The frantic energy of before has now turned into caution, as both
Quinn and Wade realize that they are more than likely about to see the
command center of this little operation just as they wanted to do, but no
longer under their own conditions which is a bit unsettling. After
walking for long minutes down the seemingly endless hallway, our two
adventurers finally come to their end of their journey.
Before them stands a large golden door that would rival those seen
from the ancient civilizations in history texts. Not to mention, the
artistry of the design that it possesses. In the center of the door there
is a large dragon set inside an unbroken circle with a large lightning
bolt in one claw and the entire world in the other.
Within only a brief moment of the Sliders arrival, the door slowly
swings open to reveal a large room that would rival mission control at
Houston. From wall to wall there are nothing but computer consoles and
monitors all set up in front of a large window that covers both the wall
and ceiling in front of Quinn and Wade so that it gives maximum coverage
of the dimension breaking tower as it powers up for it's purpose. The
only obstruction to the view is a large throne in the center of the room
which sits above everything else clutched inside a towering dragon claw
staircase and on this throne, one man sits...glaring at the Sliders with
cold, calculating fiercity while maintaining a sense of aristocracy about
him.
"Let me guess....the emperor, right?" Quinn says as he looks up at
the occupant of the throne whose style of dress might even make
Christopher Walken envious. "How astute of you," the emperor says as he
stands and begins to descend down the long spiraling stair case to the
floor, "I have been waiting for you, boy." Wade speaks up, "Why are you
doing all of this?"
The emperor continues to descend downward while he reponds, "Doing
what? Talking with you?!? I didn't know that was a crime on ANY earth!
Ahhhhhhh. You are probably referring to my impressive tower behind and
above us that is powering up as we speak to break the dimesnsional
barrier and take my world into a new realm for us to conquer. Of
course..." The emperor snaps his fingers just as he reaches the bottom
and someone steps from behind the column he has been descending. It's
Maggie! And she has not only changed her wardrobe to match the emperor's
but she also has a very impressive looking automatic rifle now pointed at
our Sliders and nothing but a sly looking smirk on her face as she cocks
the gun for readiness. The emperor continues, "Of course, you may have
meant, why I am about to kill you."
Part 8
Wade looks on at this new revelation and immediately feels
vindicated for all of the times she tried to tell the other Sliders that
Maggie was nothing but bad news. She begins to voice her opinions even
though it's not a very good thing to do in this type of situation, where
you're number one with a bullet, but Quinn slightly turns his head her
way, already knowing what she must be thinking, and just slightly shakes
his head so that Wade won't continue.
"I think she meant why are you wanting to slide a planet into
another dimension...don't you know how dangerous that is?" Quinn says.
The emperor gives a callous laugh as he walks over to where Quinn
stands.
"Sliding? Interesting term for transversing dimensions, I must
remember it. You know, you sound just like my scientists..." the emperor says
with a smirk, "They didn't think it wise either, which is why you see
none of them here today. They just didn't have any vision, they didn't
understand that I know what is best for them...so, I had them all
killed.
Ever since the days when my family's empire of Byzantanium was founded,
we have controlled. We are the greatest empire to ever come on to this
earth...even better than glorius Rome which spurned us! Of course, that
comes with a price. There is nothing left to conquer on this
planet...nothing left in this solar system that we have not explored or
taken under our flag. So, when dimensional travel was discovered, it
was only logical that we make the next step and conquer other worlds, but
not without taking the security of our own earth with us....no, I must be on
the front lines of battle, the center of the invasion and I will not do
that without my earth...my empire!"
"You're insane!" Quinn exclaims to the emperor, but his words are
cut short as the emperor, now close enough to Quinn to touch him, picks
him up by his neck and says, "INSANE?!? YOU WOULD DARE CALL ME
INSANE!!"
As the emperor lifts Quinn from the ground, Wade runs over to help but
the emperor swats her away like some annoying fly. With all of this
commotion, the remnants of the burnt out Egyptian timer fall from
Quinn's pocket to the floor and into the notice of the enraged emperor. He
throws Quinn to the floor who is now gasping and wheezing from the emperor's steel
grip. The emperor picks up the timer from the floor.
Seeing the new timer laying on the floor next Wade, he knows that
it must be the one these intruders retrieved from the store room, but this
melted timer...this well used timer could not have come from the store
room. With trembling hands, the emperor bends down to pick up the
useless device. "Where did you get this, boy?" he says with a soft,
anger filled voice. Coughing, Quinn replies, "From another dimension,
but I invente...." The emperor does not let Quinn finish as he lets
forth a loud scream of anger as tears begin to well up in his eyes from
the anger and sorrow he feels all at the same instant. "I KNEW that no
one else had developed this trans dimensional technology!!!" The
emperor screams as he continues to writhe in agony over his realization, "In all
of our jaunts to other worlds, there was no evidence of it...that is why
I sent my most trusted general on the longest jaunt we had ever
committed to. His mission was to set up a homing beacon so that our newly
developed tracking technology could find the world which was
worthy enough for my attention. He obviously did, as the beacon is
functioning perfectly and we are well under way to going there, but he
didn't return when his time was up. He never returned...and up until
this moment, I didn't know why. But you...YOU.... MUST HAVE KILLED
HIM!!!"
Part 9
The insane emperor lunges at Quinn screaming along the way "KILL
THE GIRL! THE BOY IS MINE!!!!!!!" as a command to Maggie. Quinn
does a quick roll out of the way of the emperor's emotionally clouded
attack and quickly jumps to push the petrified Wade from the unyielding
path of the bullets newly fired from Maggie's gun upon the emperor's
order. Quinn succeeds in saving the life of his ex-coworker but at a
cost, he takes the bullet meant for her in his shoulder...the shoulder
that hasn't been shot before. "Great, now I've got a matched set..."
Quinn moans to himself.
Showing her "military prowess", Maggie doesn't concern herself with
Wade, who is now lying off to the side, but instead continues to point
the gun at Quinn. She decides it will be better to help her emperor and
finish off the one most likely to cause further problems than deal with
the "little mouse" who will be easy prey once he's gone. She is about
to the pull the trigger, when the emperor finally gains back his senses
(what are left of them) and speaks. "Wait!" the emporer commands, "We
seem to have a noble spirit amoung us, dear Commander Beckett! I could
never make him suffer enough for...for...killing my son by merely
killing him in return." Wade breaks in, "But we didn't kill you son!" The
emperor, now possessing a slight tick as a sign of the insanity he has
always had, silences Wade by pulling a hand gun of his own and pointing
it at her as he walks back towards Maggie's position, "Silence!! As I
was saying, It is not enough to merely kill you...I'm going to have to
make you suffer by killing your friends...one of whom bears a striking
resemblance to the renegade lieutenant who recently tried to defect from
my empire and form a revolution, but fortunately my commander was able
to put a stop to that by killing the mongrel dog before his support became
too great. She returned just in time to ironically find herself
leaving! (the emperor flips a switch on a console that causes the stairway of his
thone to lift up and reveal Remmy and OUR Maggie as his
prisoners...chained in some form of energy cuffs) Now boy! You will
have the pleasure of watching me dispatch your friends from this plane,
starting with these two (pointing at Remmy and Maggie) and you won't be
able to do anything about it in your condition and your weak little friend
lacks the strength to stop me. Say goodbye to them, boy, and let your
suffering begin!"
Both Commander Beckett and the emperor point their guns at Remmy
and Maggie prepared to fire while Wade watches in horror as Quinn lies on
the floor, losing a profuse amount of blood, desperately trying to
reach the timer lying on the floor beside him...
Part 10
Just as the emperor and his prized commander are firing the shots
at Quinn's beloved partners, Quinn reaches the timer and once again
ignoring the pain of his burned hand, he quickly hits two buttons which cause the
vortex to open directly in front of Remmy and Maggie. Remmy closes his
eyes as all of this takes place, not wanting to view his own death, but
he misses the miracle that takes place. The vortex fully forms just as
the bullets are about to reach Remmy and the bullets go in the vortex! The
dimensional tunnel abruptly closes....only to reopen again a second later and spew the bullets back
towards the very guns and people who fired them! The bullets rip into
fatal areas of the emperor and the commander (ripping her shirt in the
process to reveal foam padding that was used to enhance
her....ummm..womanhood) thus knocking them to the floor as the bullets
continue on their journey and fly over Quinn who is still lying on the
floor about to lose consciousness from loss of blood.
Wade runs over to Quinn immediately once the firing stops to see
what his condition is. "Don't you die on me..." she says with tears
welling up in her eyes, "You mean too much to me....I mean, to the
group. Come on Quinn (as she wraps his shoulder tightly with a piece of torn
cloth from shirt she had tied around her waist), snap out of this!
We've got to keep going! We've got to get home....we've got to get home."
Quinn slowly raises his head from the ground to look up at Wade and with
a soft voice he says, "Hey, I wouldn't let you have all the fun. Is
everybody alright?" Wade smiles and gives Quinn a big hug, thus
inflaming the pain of his wound, "OWWW!" Wade winces for a moment,
"Sorry...don't ever scare me like that again!"
Wade continues to look after Quinn while on the other side of the
room, Mr. Brown has yet to open his eyes. He is saying out loud to
himself "Man, it happened just like they said...I didn't feel a thing
and when I open my eyes, I'm going be up by the pearly gates...and I
didn't even get to go Vegas....Damn!" Remmy opens his eyes to see the
fires and sparks that have begun to spring up from the consoles the bullets hit
after they richocheted. "Oh man, I went to hell!" Remmy exclaims.
Maggie leans over and says while she fumbles with Remmy's energy cuffs,
"No, you're still in Vegas, but what's the difference." Remmy then
feels an electric shock from Maggie shorting out the cuffs, "Oww! Yeah, I'm
definitely alive cause I felt that! How did you get free?" Maggie just
smiles and starts to walk over to where the other Sliders are. Remmy
follows and along the way passes over the body of Commander Beckett
seeing the "additives" that she had been using. "Guess that gives new
deifintion to the false Maggie!" he says upon seeing the sight. Wade,
who now is helping Quinn across the room, can't miss the opportunity,
"Depends on how you define it!" Quinn hides his face under his hand
trying to mask the pained laughter as Maggie's eyes squint down to show her
disgust at the comment.
There is no more time for words, though, for at that moment an
alarm sounds and a cheerful voice comes on to say, "Operation: Earth Warp has
been initiated. Fifteen minutes until gate formation."
Part 11
"Oh great." Quinn says upon hearing the news that it's possibly
too late to stop the emperor's mad scheme, "Get me over to that computer
console Wade! Fast!" Wade carries him over to one of the last
functioning monitors in the room and they examine what is happening.
After sitting in a chair, Quinn gazes at the screen for a moment,
"Great, there's no way to reverse it! This little emperor has
apparently "crossed his rubicon" by locking out all codes to abort this 'Earth
Warp'." Wade offers a quick solution, "I could probably break in and
get access.." Quinn cuts Wade off before she can finish, "It would take too
long to break in...we've only got 12 minutes left as it is! There's got
to be a solution here! He's set up his system a lot like what we did
with the train. He has to open the vortex in front of the earth and let it
pass through, but he needs to open it far enough in front so that the
vortex will have time to form since a vortex on this large of a scale
will take a few minutes. Of course, at this point in the
earth's rotation, Vegas isn't on the front of the earth according to its forward
movement, but he solved that problem by setting up a satellite system to
reflect the dimension breaking energy around to the front.....THAT'S
IT!"
"Did you find something Q-Ball?!?" Remmy exclaims as he unbuttons
the his collar from the unbearable heat that is beginning to build from
the nearby energy tower. "Yes, all I have to do is realign the
satellites so that the vortex doesn't form in front of the earth.." but
the computer beeps and chimes when Quinn tries to alter the course of
the satellites from their current goal, "He's locked that out too." "Can't
we blow up one of the satellites or something?" Remmy asks in a
slightly paniced tone. Maggie leans over to him, "Yeah. Are you going to do
that along with your disappearing act at the next magic show, Rembrandt?"
Another light begins to come in Quinn's mind upon hearing that
statement. He hit a few more keys on the computer. Nine minutes to Warp.
"We can't do anything about the first setting of the tower," Quinn
says, "but, we can program in another function to take place immediately
after the vortex opens in front of this earth! He must not have thought
about someone trying that!" Wade gives a confused expression, "How's
that going do us any good?" Once again, the scientist in Quinn takes
over and he explains, "Well, as it turns out from the data I've seen
here, the dam is not powering the engine. In fact,there is a very large
cold fusion reactor that is using all of it's energy in order to
accomplish this. However, the dam does still give electrical power to
the complex. If we can realign the satellites so that they rebound a second energy
beam composed of the electrical energy produced from the dam thus
producing a continous loop of electrical energy around this earth, then we
can create an electric umbrella around the planet. When the electrical field collides
with the vortex, it should cause the same reaction I
as when the lightning bolt struck the vortex!
This entire earth will be taken to the astral plane and become
intangible which should keep them from colliding with another earth or even
attacking it if they have the notion. They won't even be able to slide
anymore due to the fact that it takes a certain amount of time for the
vortex to move up and I don't think they can ever open it far enough in
front of the earth in give them enough time! Of course, the
transferance of that much mass into another dimension could still cause some
problems, theorectically...but hopefully it won't and if it does, maybe it will
stay localized to only a few dimensions. That's the best we're going to
be able to do with what we've got." Five minutes to Warp.
Part 12
Quinn begins to type on the keyboard, but the pain in his arm and
his hand is slowing him down considerably. Realizing he won't finish in
time, he looks to Wade, "Wade, you're going to have to take over! If we
don't get out of here quick, we're going to be toast! I'll talk you
through it." With a smirk, Wade takes Quinn's seat at the terminal, "I
could have done this minutes ago...just tell me what you want, and I'll
handle the rest!"
With Quinn giving a few instructions on the correct frequencies of the
energy wave and other small details, Wade makes haste and plays the
computer like a Van Halen would his guitar. While she's typing away,
Remmy worriedly walks around the room now profusely sweating from the
heat of this ordeal. Maggie, on the other hand, uses the opportunity to
procure herself a firearm for the next dimension...something she's
missed since she lost her gun on one of the first worlds she visited with the
group where large jello like creatures ravaged the land. As Maggie
kneels down to pick up the rifle that lay beside her now dead
doppleganger, she thinks to herself, "Could that have been me not long
ago...could it still be me again." Knowing how dire the current
situation is, Maggie doesn't take long for thought, she picks up the
rifle and returns to the group...never noticing that the emperor is ever
so slowly regaining consciousness from the bullet that only grazed his
head.
1 minute to Earth Warp. The heat of the energy buildup is now
almost unbearable, but Wade works on. If she can just get in these
final keystrokes before the monitor casing begins to melt and short circuit,
the commands will go into the underground mainframe and be carried out
under that protection from the heat that the bunker offers. As she
makes those final strokes, she looks up to Quinn, "I think that should do it
and while I was in there doing that, I was able to hack into another
system that wasn't protected as much as others. The Guidance control.
I guess he didn't think it would make much of a difference if he followed
the beacon or not...he was essentially sending his 'beloved' son on a
useless mission." Quinn leans down to look at the monitor, "Let me see
that....Wade you're a genius! I can loop the coordinates back around
and make this earth slide back to exactly where it came from...that
should drastically minimize the damage sliding something this big might
cause." After quickly hitting a few keys and giving Wade a fast, hard
kiss to the forehead, Quinn opens the vortex with the new timer.
"Let's GO people!" Quinn says as the vortex fully forms in front
of him, "We've got to get here...that thing's about to fire!!" "You don't
have to tell me twice!" Remmy exclaims as he jumps into the vortex.
Maggie follows, satisfied as she enters the vortex with the added
security the gun now gives her..something that she has missed over these past
few months. "Oh great, she's armed again," Wade remarks, "Here. I'll
help you over to the vortex, Quinn." She puts her arm around Quinn just
as the voice comes over the loudspeaker again, "10 seconds to Earth
Warp...9.....8..."
Quinn and Wade slowly hobble over to the vortex, but just as they
about to jump to their freedom...a hand quickly grabs Quinn's ankle.
It's the emperor! "You won't do this to me...boy." the emperor moans
as the countdown continues.....5.....4...
"QUINN!!" Wade exclaims as she tries to turn and free Quinn, but
knowing that time is short, Quinn pushes her on into the vortex.
In his attempt to get Wade to safety, Quinn loses his balance and
lands on the floor just inches from the sanctuary of the vortex. Using
what little strength he has left, Quinn manages to stretch the only good
arm he has left just enough to place the tip of his hand into the
interdimensional tunnel...and that's all that's needed. Just as the
voice booms....1.......0!, the vortex pulls Quinn inside with the
emperor hanging on for the ride...
Part 13
Just as the emperor's wrist penetrates the vortex, the tower
releases the stored energy to fulfill it's mission and the resulting
disruption causes Quinn's vortex opening to collapse...but that is the least
of the emperor's worries. For the energy released was also sufficient
to incinerate everything for a one mile area, including the rest of his
body that had not yet made it through....just as his scientists predicted.
Meanwhile, a multiverse away....a dimensional portal opens and a
lone figure falls free. Dressed in tatered black attire, he stands and
brushes himself off before gauging his surroundings. "Well," he thinks
to himself, "this still doesn't look like the empire. I'm just glad I was
able to get the beacon working properly before I had to advance the
timer to get away from that planet full of hairy apes. Father will definitely
want to eradicate another race who has discovered the trans dimensional
technology. I just hope I can make it back before the attack starts...I
want to be there when the empire crushes those vile savages!"
Looking around for a moment, the figure sees a typical street in a
typical town occupied only by four vagrants who look as though they have
been put through a furnace. One of them even looks as though he has
been shot. He wonders for a moment why they must be staring at him so, but
then he looks down at his timer and seeing that it is time to leave, he
opens the vortex and jumps through....never realizing that because of
the heroic efforts of those vagrants, he no longer has a tangible or visible
world to return to. It is just a ghost planet by now, unable to be
harmed by others or do harm to anything else.
THE END...for now.
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