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The following piece contains the what-could-have-been
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.
Possible Season Five Introduction
Written on August 10, 1998
by TemporalFlux (temporalflux@hotmail.com)
The following small pieces were originally written on August 10, 1998 at the Universal Sliders Netforum. They were my response to reports that Jerry O'Connell had offered to appear for three episodes...but production claimed that wouldn't be enough for a wrap up. I wrote this within one day of hearing that...just to attempt to show them it was easily possible. As you will notice, these are not complete stories by any means...just the high points that could easily be expanded upon. Maybe one day I will.
Season Five - Episode 1
Our quantum quartet land on a world best described as "cyber punk".
People walk the street part cyborg/part human...technology and man
have merged through the advance of history on this world.
When our Sliders arrive here, there is no lag time between season four
and season five and the team is beginning to feel discouraged about
finding the homeworld. Some of the Sliders even begin to wonder if it
really exists...all but Quinn. He just knows it's still out there and they just
haven't found it yet. But Quinn knows he will never be able to find it
with the equipment he has now...
While on the world, Quinn makes a drastic decision which the Sliders
disagree with. Quinn begins to think that if he could jack into the timer
itself and be free of the limitations now present in programming it...that
he might just be able to figure out a way to the Kromagg homeworld. It's
a long shot...but Quinn is willing to take it since every moment that passes
means more time that the Kromaggs rampage (since it has now been
a year since the fall of Earth Prime). Every day his friends and family suffer...
another day that Wade is left out there alone... Leaving the others when they can't
stop him (like when they are asleep), Quinn goes to a doctor of that world
and asks if he can make it where Quinn can jack in directly to the timer
(like with a cable). The doctor agrees and is quite intrigued by the challenge...
Time passes...our other Sliders are involved in some trouble while this
is going on which keeps them busy, but when they finally locate Quinn.
He is just beginning to come around from the procedure. The doctor
calls it an unqualfied success! But Quinn looks over to see the timer
in pieces...disassembled. Then he realizes what has happened when
he begins to see numbers in his mind's eye...15...14...13...12...
The Doctor implanted the entire mechanics of the timer into Quinn!
Quinn is enraged...but before he can do anything, the numbers reach
zero and Quinn gets a sharp pain coursing through him. Electric beams
shoot from his eyes and mouth and the portal opens in front of the Sliders...
as Quinn falls to the floor. The Sliders run over to Quinn to find him
barely alive...but the trouble they faced earlier when they were busy has
caught up to them. They either slide or they are all going to die. So,
with Quinn in hand...they slide.
Season Five - Episode 2
This episode takes place on a world with technology of our level or
lower. The tech must be low enough so that Quinn can't get the
parts taking out without killing him, and also the world must provide
a separate challenge to give the episode length. It can be any type
really...such as a world where insanity is the norm and what we
consider normal people are locked in "sane asylums" (still one of my
favorite ideas...)
Anyway, the Sliders land from their escape of Cyber Punk World with
Quinn worse for wear. He has somehow survived (like someone would
survive a lightning strike - suspended disbelief here), but Quinn is in
pain and he now has a white streak through his hair. The Sliders begin
to think that this is the end of their journey...to be stuck on that world.
Quinn, however, tells them that the timer is still counting down in his
head...they have 4 hours.
Remmy and Colin go off to find help for Quinn (which leads to their adventure), while Maggie stays behind. This leads to a sequence where Quinn begins to think Maggie is Wade due delusions caused by his condition. And so, Quinn (thinking he is dying) finally opens up about his feelings for Wade...and Maggie painfully plays along.
Also in that time, Quinn figures out the way back to the Kromagg homeworld...
it all becomes easy now, even though a terrible cost. Quinn also begins
to notice his hands phasing in and out of tangibility...but he hides it from
the team.
Time comes up...and even though the Sliders (especially Remmy) try
hard to stop him and find a way to shut the timer down, Quinn begins
the opening sequence for the vortex. But this time...it's different. No
lightning comes from his eyes...instead, pinpoints of light begin to appear
from all over him. Quinn rips open his shirt in pain to reveal that his
chest is now an expanding vortex...Quinn is becoming the part of the exotic matter to hold this vortex open.
He screams to the others to never give up as Quinn forms the vortex
to the Kromagg homeworld. Very reluctantly, the Sliders take the chance
so that Quinn's sacrifice won't be in vain...but did Quinn die? There would
be a scene after they depart which shows that nothing is left once the
vortex closes...did the vortex distengrate Quinn or has Quinn somehow
become part of the sliding tunnels...is there still hope that one day he
can be freed from his interdimensional merging? And if he was freed...
what would he have become?
The end of the episode...Remmy, Maggie and Colin fall out the vortex
in despair. They look up to see the futuristic backdrop, but they can
only think of Quinn...and at that moment Quinn walks up to them in futuristic
garb and says, "Greetings."
Season Five - Episode 3
The Sliders have lost so much...the Professor, Wade...now Quinn...and
unfortunately they no longer have a way to slide since the timer went
with Quinn. But, just moments after seeing Quinn sacrifice himself...
here the Sliders stand in front of Quinn again on what is supposed to
be the Kromagg homeworld of our Quinn's birth!
After discussion and a trip back to the Mallory home...the Sliders discover
that they are on the Kromagg homeworld. In fact, they find that the microdots
had been given to the wrong person...it was intended for the Quinn they
see before them. It turns out that the Mallory's did leave their sons on
alternate earths many years ago...but they retrieved Quinn four years ago only
to be forced back to the homeworld by the Kromaggs before they could go
for Colin. When they retrieved Quinn those many years ago...they never
had a chance to say anything to the mother of that earth since their
window of opporutnity was short and she was not to be found...so they
left...while also leaving the microdot behind too. The Sliders begin to
think..."Then that would mean we didn't ever get back to Earth Prime?"
"The Kromaggs just found the mother as they tracked Quinn and they thought
our Quinn was the same since the DNA was the same (from the earlier research
on our Quinn) and subsequently pulled the trick" That about sums it up...though
I don't know what character would come up with that explanation.
I think a round robin between Maggie, Remmy and Colin putting the
pieces together would do...
Remmy demands to know why the Mallory's never tried to help any other worlds...they explain to him that the weapon no longer worked after the first use (the Kromaggs became immune to it). They had to fall back or die...and that's why they built the cloak and the slidecage to keep Maggs out. Because they couldn't drive them off again if they wanted to. They've been working on another way, but haven't been able to find anything. Father Mallory assures he will continue.
The Mallory's give Remmy and Maggie a new timer...and Remmy's search
for Earth Prime begins anew. Maggie's decided to tag along for now
since she's got nothing better to do and Colin decides to continue on
with his friends instead of staying. The Mallory's understand...a family
moment occurs, and Colin says, "If not for these microdots, I may have
never found you..." At that moment, the microdot given to Quinn begins
to blink and hundreds of red vortices open in the air. Laser shots begin
to fire, the Mallorys run for cover, and a stray laser blast glances the timer
causing it to activate...with the vortex immediately pulling Remmy in.
Maggie scoops up the timer from the ground and follows Remmy...Colin
hesitates for a moment thinking of his family and that costs him. Laser
shots begin to hit all in front of the vortex barring his path...until it closes.
Colin runs for cover...and we fade to the next world.
Remmy and Maggie land in usual fashion in what appears to be a
darkened musuem. They take a moment to collect themselves...noticing
that Colin isn't there. They begin to wonder what happened to him...
is he okay? Then they notice the timer...it took some small damage from
the laser...and neither Remmy or Maggie know how to fix it. Where will
they get help?
Then they turn around to notice the statue behind them and the inscription
it has...Max Arturo...Mother of Interdimensional Travel. The figure is a female.
And so the story continues...with a new female version of a familiar friend along for the ride.
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