Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 20

Legion of Super Heroes - Against All Odds (Part 4)*

Jo set the time bubble on the ground and Querl stepped out quickly. “Should we go in or wait for the girls?” Jo asked.

“They have not checked in as they were supposed to, neither has Reep. It’s possible something has gone wrong. We should use extreme caution. If something has jeopardized the mission, Earth’s future looks awfully bleak.”

Hesitantly Jo asked, “So what’s the plan?”

“I’ve got a device to disable any motion sensors or cameras. We have to make sure we are not detected.” Querl took a device similar to the one he gave Tinya out of his utility belt. He flicked the switch, “Let’s go.”

Jo and Querl took to the air across the clearing to a group of houses, just avoiding being seen by a man running towards the beach. They were at the windows to the room Tinya and Violet entered. Jo was about to smash the window to gain entrance when Querl stopped him.

“Do you really wish to alert everyone?”

“I’d prefer a straight fight. Why can’t we just zip in there, grab the girls, and get out?”

“Stealth is still the objective here. Also, we still need to find what we need to prevent the destruction of Earth, we need to make sure the time-line remains intact.”

“Oh, right.”

Reaching into his utility pouch once more, Querl withdrew a long pen shaped object. He pointed it at the window and pressed a button. A faint humming noise was heard and the glass dissolved allowing Querl and Jo to fly into the building. “Be ready for anything.”

“Don’t worry. I already have my ultra energy switched to invulnerability. Nothing can harm me now.”

Querl took out another of his devices and began scanning for life signs. Satisfied with his findings, he returned the device to his pocket. “As they say in this century, those could be your famous last words.” With the flight rings now turned off, Jo followed Querl out of the room and down the hall. “We need to find some sort of a device that leads to another level below us. A lift, teleporter…”

“Stairs?” Jo asked pointed to a set from inside the kitchen. Querl was always so gadget and gimmicky minded he at times forget the simplest of devices.

“Can you hear anything?”

“Not with my normal hearing. It seems quiet. Are the girls down there?”

“Yes and a trap likely awaits us as well.”

“No problem. Switch on your force shield, let’s go.” Without waiting for Querl this time, Jo descended the stairs. He looked around and saw only large equipment. He waited for Querl to make it down the stairs. “Want to check your reading again?”

“My readings are not wrong; logically things are not as they seem here.”

“Oh, bravo!” A voice spoke from the back of the room. Suddenly there was a shimmering in the room and Mekkt Ranzz, Lightening Lord was standing with a military Colonel; an older man with a thin mustache. To the right of Jo and Querl along the wall was Tinya and Violet. There were two soldiers on either side of them with guns held to them.

“Lightening Lord, how did you get here?” Jo asked.

“That’s unimportant. What is important is you are my prisoners.”

“We’ll see about that.” Jo said advancing towards Mekkt.

Mekkt began to crackle as lightening overtook his body, as if challenging Jo to grab him. Using his invulnerability Jo grabbed him anyway, unaffected by the lightening in his invulnerable state. “You think it’s going to be that easy?” Mekkt pointed at a rafter over the girls and hit it with an electrical bolt, splitting it in half which came crashing down towards the two unconscious girls.

With only a second to act Jo quickly let go of Mekkt and switched to super speed to grab hold of the falling beam, then switched to ultra strength to hold it up and push it out of the way. As he did so he felt an electrical charge fill is body. He fell to the ground paralyzed; his head fell into Tinya’s lap. The room glowed with electrical energy as Mekkt began to laugh. He gave a glance to the older man with the thin mustache. “Baites, tag him.” The man walked over to Jo and placed a small disc on his neck. The two girls were already tagged.

“Why?” Querl asked, “how could you possibly profit from the destruction of Earth? This is mass murder.”

“Murder? I think not. This was destined to happen. I’m just making sure you don’t prevent it. With the destruction of Earth, the United Planets will no longer have Earthgov to help finance them. With no more finances from Earthgov…”

“No more funding of the Legion. You knew we were going to be here.”

“Indeed I did. All of the Legion of Super Villains knew. And with the Legion crippled, we will rule the 31st century.” Mekkt shot a large bolt of energy towards Querl. The shield held. “Do it now!” Mekkt shouted to Baites who drew up the weapon he used on Tinya earlier and blasted Querl’s force shield. Immediately the shield collapsed and Mekkt discharged a bolt of lightening. Querl fell to the ground, his force shield projector fried. Baites walked over and placed a small disc on Querl’s neck. His head suddenly slumped down. Mekkt began to laugh once more.

The laughing only happened for a second as Querl suddenly stood up. He grabbed the disc and pulled it off of his neck. “I’m afraid you can’t take over my 12th level mind with such a primitive device.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have won. There is nothing you can do to prevent what happens. If I can’t control you, I’ll simply destroy you. And when I get back, the Legion of Super Villains will make sure your Legion is finally down and out for good.

Querl looked at his comrades on the ground; the mind control device on their necks suddenly gone. “We may be down, but we are never out. The Legion will always be ready for you.”

Mekkt gave him a puzzled look. “Your friends are…” Mekkt looked over and saw Tinya and Jo standing up. Violet was gone.

Suddenly Baites was grabbing the side of his head and rubbing his ear as though an annoying bug were in it. Tinya turned around and grabbed the gun of the soldier next to her. A quick kick to his leg and a punch in his face sent him to the ground. Jo ran over and grabbed Mekkt, making sure his invulnerability was turned on.

“Shoot them.” He called to Baites, but he was far too distracted by the interference in his ear. It stopped for a moment but he was now caught off guard and as Violet returned to her normal size one quick blow knocked him out. Mekkt turned his attention to the one guarding Violet. He was now standing there, doing nothing. “Shoot them.” He now told him. The guard just smiled, suddenly his face began to blur and shift. The soldier was actually Reep Daggle, Chameleon Boy.

This time Querl was the one smiling. He picked up one of the mind control devices and placed it on Mekkt. His mind cleared and he passed out.

“Now you know why Reep had to be a secret.” Querl told Jo. “I needed him to infiltrate. I had a feeling the Legion of Super Villains was going to try something, I just didn’t know what. Are there any others Reep?”

“One went through this device they were working on, he never came back.” Reep said sadly. “But the guy who’s image I copied took off hysterically down the beach when Mekkt broke in. He ran off towards the beach.”

“He shouldn’t be a problem. Jo, make sure to wipe their minds, then find the guy on the beach and erase his mind of the last day. Meet us back at the time bubble.”

“Check” Jo said. He wiped the minds of the guys on the ground then switched his ultra energy to speed and ran to the beach and brought the other man back in less than a second.

“Reep, can you bring Mekkt? He’s going to have a nice long rest in Takron Galtos.”

“What about this equipment Querl? Surely we can’t allow it to continue.” Tinya asked him.

“Of course we can. Now that I have my readings, I know how we can stop it in the future.”

“But the explosion they have will be catastrophic; can’t we do something about it?”

“I’m afraid not, if we alter that course of events, Earth will not be threatened and we’ll never know to come back to fix it. The resulting paradox this far back in time could be just as disastrous. We must allow it to happen. Besides, this island is very remote, casualties will be to a minimum if at all.” Reep changed his body to that of a gorilla and picked up Mekkt. The group walked out to the time bubble.

Violet spoke up quietly. “What about the Earth in our time? It’s already begun to implode. The Earth is still doomed.”

Querl looked around. “No it isn’t, as long as we arrive before it happens. We do have a time machine idiot.” Querl told her. Violet’s face reddened in embarrassment and she shrank her body down, hiding from the group as she flew along with them.

Jo was already waiting at the time bubble for them. As the group entered Reep spoke, “I said it before and I’ll say it again Querl. You really are a crappy friend.”

“Perhaps, but this crappy friend just saved the entire planet Earth, that should count for something.” Querl hit a few controls and the time bubble disappeared, heading back to the 31st century. He dreaded it, but he realized he had to file a report with Rond at the time institute.


*This is part 20 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 19

Sliders - No Time to Slide (Part 4)*

Arturo was the first to speak. “You bumbling idiot. We are not spies, and that is not a bomb.”

The two men didn’t look very satisfied. “Would you care explain who you are?”

“We are just passing through.“ Quinn explained. “The front door was open and when we came down he came out of the wormhole.

Both men looked to Rembrandt. He nodded they were telling the truth. “Of course, you’ve probably figured out I’m not the same man you think I am.” This seemed to confuse both men.

“We’re from another Earth you bumbling…” Arturo was quickly hushed by Quinn.

“This device you are working on is a lot like a device I invented. If you return our equipment we’ll do what we can to stabilize your vortex field.”

The two men looked at each other, unsure if they should or not. “What do you think Mathew?” The taller one said.

“I’m not sure we have a choice, Vidar. We need to report something back. I’d rather report we’ve stabilized the equipment than we’ve captured spies.”

“True, they’d want us to do something messy like killing them.” The sliders exchanged looks of horror and shock.

“But can we trust them? It would only take a second for them to destroy the project. Your time accelerator, my shielding and all.”

“Watch as close as you want. You want your machine to work and we need our equipment back." Wade told them.

“Very well,” The taller man named Vidar replied.

“But you don’t get this back till you can prove what you have done, works.”

“Fair enough.” Quinn said. “Can you show us the research on this computer?”

“Let me show you.” Matthew said. Wade and Quinn followed him to the computer as the Professor made sure the hardware was secure and properly reinforced.

“So what do you do?” Vidar asked Rembrandt.

“I’m afraid on my world I’m merely an entertainer.” He sang a few verses of ‘Tears in my Fro’ as demonstration.

“Thank you, I’ve been on this remote island for so long I can’t remember the last time I heard a proper song.”

“Looks like I’ve found the fault in your equations.” Quinn told the group.

“How soon before we can test it out?”

“Just a few minutes.” Quinn replied, looking towards Wade he said, “Enter this change in line 42.” He handed Wade a slip of paper. “Professor, is the grid secure?”

“Indeed it is, ready to test away.” Arturo pressed a button on the top of the machine which emitted a strange pulse. Suddenly a rift formed.

“There you go. All set.”

“How do we know it really works?” Vidar asked.

“We don’t want to end up like poor Mr. Johnson. Will it sustain multiple trips?”

“It will. Would you like me to demonstrate?” Quinn asked.

“Please do.” Matthew replied.

Quinn motioned for the other three to stay where they were. He jumped into the rift which remained open. It was an intense minute till his return.

“I think something’s happened to Quinn.” Wade said a second before Quinn slid back out of the wormhole.

“There you go, I’m fine. Now can we have our equipment back?”

Vidar and Matthew exchanged looks and then handed the timer back to Quinn.

“Care to let us know what your device is?”

“Well, you have your vortex stable on both ends. It allows anyone from either side to come and go. And it’s fixed to one spot. Ours allows us to travel, essentially taking the vortex with us.”

“Speaking of which boy, how much time?”

“About two minutes.” Quinn answered, addressing the two others he said, “If you don’t mind, we’ll go outside not to interfere with yours.”

The two men waived them away, eager to examine the repaired machine. As the four walked up the stairs, the Dodo bird cooed. Vidar asked Quinn as he was walking up “how far in the future are you from?”

“About twenty years.” Quinn lied. If they knew the truth he wasn’t sure if they would understand. Once outside the Sliders heard the timer beep, warning them the next vortex was opening. Quinn pointed it into the open air which formed, ready to take the group to a different world.

“I can’t believe you did it man. You perfected a time machine.” Rembrandt was impressed and jumped into the vortex.

“When we get to the other side, you need to tell me what period in history you went to.” Wade said following Rembrandt.

Quinn smiled widely at the professor.

“You didn’t perfect a time machine did you?” Arturo was laughing to himself. Quinn and Arturo suddenly had an inside joke.

“Of course not, I still think time travel is impossible. Well, not impossible but a one-way trip at best. I just gave them Sliding technology, which works on the same principal. I fixed the co-ordinates to the world where the dinosaurs existed. They’ll think they have time travel to the distant past. I had to do something, their unstable wormhole was starting to affect various realities.”

“Of course they'll figure it out sooner or later.” Arturo said jumping into the vortex.

Quinn looked back at the house, hoping he did the right thing. He shrugged his shoulders, no time to worry about it now; he was quickly running out of time to slide. He jumped through the vortex as it suddenly closed.


Next - Legion of Super Heroes - Against All Odds (Part 4)

*This is part 19 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 18

Writer Block - The Getaway (Part 4)*

The man ran out from the trees yelling at both Erick and Jenni to get away, but he only made a few yards before he collapsed in front of them mumbling something incoherent to himself.

“What do you think is wrong with him?” Erick asked.

Jenni shrugged her shoulders. “He seems pretty upset about something.”

“Said we needed to get out, I wonder what he meant by that?”

“He was indicating the direction he was running from. Perhaps it would be prudent to make as much distance as we could from that direction.”

Erick looked down to the guy mumbling. “What about him, will you help bring him along?”

Jenni looked shocked, “Why wouldn’t I help him, or you?” Thinking for a second she realized her alternate self wasn’t as helpful or considerate as she was. “Sure, let’s work together.”

Erick and Jenni picked up the man and held one arm each over their shoulders. The man wasn’t dragging his feet but shuffled his legs with them.

“Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Erick asked the man. “Where are we? Who are you?”

The man stopped their progress as he seemed to suddenly come out of his hysteria and stood up for himself. “The name of the island wouldn’t help you I’m afraid. Do you have a boat?”

“We were on a boat, but it sank.” Jenni explained. “We only have a life raft. Why do we need to get away?”

The man laughed to himself. “What does it matter? There may not be any place safe enough. That madman is destroying everything.”

“What madman? What is this place?” Erick asked insistently. The man was not making much sense.

“Can’t you hear the humming noise? We’re on a build up to detonation.” He told them. Jenni and Erick exchanged worried looks as he continued. “We were doing continued research on this remote island when some crazy man broke in demanding access to all our files and equipment.”

Suddenly, there was a loud crack of lightening and a flash from the skies. The crazy man backed up in fear.

“Is there anything we can do?” Erick asked.

“Not really, if the shielding holds, we might be okay. But if that nut job is successful in breaking it, no one will be safe. I hope the person they got to replace me did a good enough job.” Suddenly a louder sound was heard, but it wasn’t from lightening. It was more like an explosion. From further into the island large smoke began to rise and a rustling noise was heard, becoming louder and louder. As the three looked towards the direction of the noise they noticed trees rapidly falling over like dominoes in every direction, including their own.

“I’m sorry you two, I’m afraid we’re dead!” The man shouted out. He fell to his knees and was either praying or crying.

A sudden alertness entered Erick; he realized he had only seconds to live. He wasn’t so terrified of dying as he was of things unsaid. He turned towards Jenni, she was shaking as a leaf, terrified. Using the last moments of his life Erick grabbed Jenni’s hands, “I love you. I’ve always loved you.” He drew closer and kissed her as they closed their eyes waiting for their last second alive; a second to be shared in one last eternal embrace. Jenni’s warm and tender lips reminded him how much she always meant to him. All thoughts of Vicki evaporated, for the moment there was only Jenni.

Another loud sound of crackling lightening was heard. Erick still felt alive, and was still kissing Jenni. The embrace ended and Erick opened one eye cautiously; Jenni was doing the same thing. They looked into each others eyes for a second more before they realized they were indeed still alive. Erick took a step back but never let go of Jenni’s hands. Looking back towards the island mainland the trees were standing up as they had before. Looking down, the crazy man was now gone. His footsteps were not even visible.

“There was a man here wasn’t there?” Erick asked.

“Yes, there was.” Jenni agreed. She looked down to Erick’s hands, still holding hers. She smiled, “Thank you.”

Erick smiled back, at a loss for words. “I hope you didn’t mind.” He released her hands.

“Not at all.” There was a moment of awkwardness between them. “Do you… do you still feel the same?”

Before Erick answered the two heard a whistle from down the beach. Turning to look, they saw about 15 life-rafts on the beach.

“What’s going on?” Jenni asked.

“I think the shifting realities have returned.” His voice was grave and serious.

“Does that mean we’re going back to the same realities we came from? You’ll go back to hating me?”

“No, no. I’ve never hated you Jen. I just…” There was a fainter crackling sound heard again followed by a momentary flash of light. Looking around, Jen and Erick were back at General Mitchell International Airport. Many of their classmates were standing close by. Erick and Jenni seemed to be the only two who noticed something odd. Both thought about commenting on it, but realized it was pointless as they pretty much expected it to happen. Erick resumed consoling Jenni. “Look at it this way. The Erick you go back to will love and adore you, right?”

“Yes, he will. But you won’t. In your reality I’m a pain in your backside and I’m sorry and ashamed.” Considering how much of an emotional wreck she was, she broke down in tears once more. She wrapped her arms around Erick “I’m sorry.” She buried her face in his shoulder and began crying.

“It’ll be okay.” Erick told her. “No matter what Jenni I return to, you and I will always have today. I can deal with her, trust me.” He turned her face so she was looking him in the eye. He rubbed the tears away. “But it was nice to get away.” He closed his eyes and kissed her once more. When he opened his eyes, Vicki smiled back at him.


Next - Sliders - No Time To Slide (Part 4)

*This is part 18 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 17

Quantum Leap - Tear Down This Wall (Part 4)*

The bar was like many others. Tables and chairs filled the room, stools by the bar, a pool table in the back along with a jukebox playing ‘La Bamba’, from Los Lobos. Sam walked in and drew only a few looks from the patrons closest to the door. Sam looked around but didn’t see Matthew right away. He walked towards the bar.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for someone named Matthew, do you know him?”

The bartender eyed him up for a second. “You gonna order something?”

Sam wasn’t sure if he had the information and wanted him to purchase a beer first, or if he was ignoring him but still wanted him to order something. “Yea, give me a beer.”

The bartender poured the beer and set it on the counter, waiting to be paid. Sam handed him a bill more than the cost of the drink. “Keep it.” Sam told him indicating the change.

“He’s back watching the game. I’m not going to have any trouble from you am I?”

“No, just here to talk.”

The bartender pointed toward a corner of the room where broken glass and bottles had been swept neatly into a pile. “That’s from the last ‘discussion’ here.”

“I’ll make sure our talk goes smoother than the last one.” Sam flashed him a weak smile. He grabbed his beer and took a drink, then put it down walking toward the pool tables. “Can I get next game?”

Matthew recognized him instantly, despite the several beers in his system. “Hey, you!” Matthew stood and looked Sam in the eyes. “I know you. You were trying to hit on my wife.”

“Actually, I wasn’t.” Sam told him, but Matthew barely heard as he took a swing. Being inebriated, he missed Sam and swung at empty air. Sam grabbed his arm and held it behind his back, stopping Matthew from acting any further. The two men from the pool game put down their sticks. “I only came to talk.” He told them, they didn’t resume their game.

“I should tear you limb from limb.” Matthew told him. “Let go of me and fight like a man.”

“I didn’t come to fight.”

“I don’t care, let me go.” Sam released his arm hoping it would ease the tension. It didn’t, Matthew put both his fists back in the air tempting Sam to continue fighting. Sam remained calm and shook his head. Matthew took another swing at Sam, but missed wildly again.

Sam took another step back, “I’m just here to talk. I’m sorry about before but…” Matthew took another swing. It came closer to Sam this time and instinctively Sam countered it and punched Matthew in the stomach, sending him to the ground. “Do you want your wife to walk out on you?”

This made Matthew stop; the words were too close to home. He buried his head in his hands. Sam reached down to help him up. “I’ve really come to talk. I was not hitting on your wife.”

“Then what?” Matthew asked accepting Sam’s help. The song ‘With or Without You’ from U2 began playing on the jukebox.

“I’ve noticed Amy’s been on edge lately. When you saw me with her earlier, I left the gym and saw her walking down the street crying. I went to make sure she was okay, but she’s not is she?”

“I’ve not been myself lately.” Sam and Matthew grabbed a table and sat down. The two others continued their pool table game.

“Yea, so Amy told me. Things must really be hectic for you at work.”

“You’ve no idea. “

“I’m sure your wife has no idea either. That’s probably what’s bothering her, you not talking to her.”

“I don’t want to bother her with my problem. Captain Baites has me working on a top secret project.”

“Maybe you don't want to bother her but you’re creating more of a problem by not telling her how you feel. The more you hold everything in, the more a wall comes between the two of you.”

“Are you a psychologist or something?” Matthew asked.

Sam thought back trying to remember if he took any psychology classes. He then realized it wouldn’t matter if he did anyway, “I took psychology classes in college.”

“Actually, you did.” It was Al, he somehow snuck in without Sam hearing, a trick Al loved to play on him. Absentmindedly, Sam turned around to look at him, but remembered no one else could see Al. He turned back towards Matthew.

“The work you are doing must be very important. But how can you focus on it properly when your home life is in chaos? You need to fix your family life so you can excel at work. Shutting Amy out and drinking your problem away is not going to draw you two together. If your work is hectic, share it with your wife. She’ll thank you, and you can draw on her for support.”

“Good Sam.” Al told him, he checked the display of his hand device and nodded approvingly. “I think that did it Sam.”

Matthew picked himself up from the table. “Thanks, I appreciate your help.”

“And let your wife continue her fitness classes. She wants to look good for herself and for you.”

“Sure, right.” Matthew said. He shook Sam’s hand and walked over to the bartender asking for a coffee to go.

Sam looked over to Al. “Well?”

“You did it Sam. Matthew goes home and patches things up with his wife. The shielding he develops is a success. The incident on the remote island is contained and no one dies.”

“What about Amy and Matthew?”

“They remain married.” Al hits a few more buttons on his device. “Oh, till she dies in 1998 from a car accident. But they are happy till then.”

“Not the happiest of endings I guess.” Sam admitted.

“Maybe not, but you gave them many years of happiness they were not originally going to have. You did good.”

“I know Al, thanks for being here for me. I’m glad I’ve got you as a helper and friend.”

Sam suddenly felt an electrical surge charge his body and in a blinding light his consciousness was gone, returning Andrew back to his body. Sam was moving on to his next adventure.


Next - Writers Block - the Get Away (Part 4)

*This is part 17 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 16

Doctor Who - Crossing the Barrier (Part 4)*

“Oh, I believe I’ve found proper shielding.” Captain Mitchell told the Doctor.

“Have you?”

“You said you are a time traveler?” Captain Mitchell drew his gun once more and aimed it at the Doctor. “Perhaps I should get a better look at your time machine.”

“Oh I hate guns.” The Doctor said disappointed. “Do you really think I’d be willing to show you? Especially with a gun pointed at me?”

“I have no choice. The shielding for this project must be acquired.”

“Even if I showed you my Tardis, the power signatures between the two are incompatible. You wouldn’t be able to do anything with the shielding I posses.”

“I need something to go on. I can’t report this project as a failure. I’ll loose funding or worse, become a laughing stock.”

“Well why don’t you let me help? Put the gun away and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure your project shows some results.”

Mitchell hesitated for a second till he realized he had nothing else to go on. He put the gun back into its holster. “So what do you propose?”

“If I can look at the data you’ve collected so far, I can show you how to create a stable shielding for your project. Mind you, it’s not something you can create overnight. This much protection is going to take years to perfect, even with my information.”

“How long do you propose it’ll take?”

“Thirty or forty years. I know it’s not what you’re expecting, it’ll be a slow process, but it’ll be an effective one, and safer.”

“At least it’ll be something I can work with. The Mitchell legacy will continue.”

“Ah yes, fame. What everyone strives for.” The Doctor said with a frown as he began looking over the research and writing down notes.

Tegan, Turlough and Baites returned with some cleaning supplies. Tegan went straight away to picking up papers blown across the room as Turlough and Baites began to clean up the remains of the decomposed scientists.

The Doctor smiled at Tegan who gave a half-hearted smile in return. He continued to talk with Mitchell. “As you continue perfecting your research, make sure you’ve got the top minds remaining on this shielding. As you saw today, without something to balance the chronal signatures and contain them, you risk something far worse happening. These sorts of experiments have been known to blow worlds apart.”

“What about the scientists? They didn’t die in an explosion, they disintegrated.”

“No, not really disintegrated. They aged very rapidly. You see accidents in this field can have unpredictable results. It could age some people while others it could slow down the aging process. It all depends on how much you work with it and the shielding used. You never quite know what could happen. Just promise me you won’t try another experiment like today till proper precautions have been in place and the shielding has been perfected. Oh, and I’d make sure the tests are conducted on a remote island somewhere, away from population of any sort.”

“Yes of course, I’m no fool.”

The Doctor finished writing his notes and handed them to Mitchell. “Now I have your word, we are free to go?”

Mitchell grabbed the notes from the Doctor as he again drew his gun. “I’m sorry Doctor, but I can’t take the risk. With the information you posses, I can’t allow you to leave. What would stop you from selling the same secrets to foreign governments?”

“I’ve done all that you ask. What do you plan on doing, keeping me hostage?”

“Captain,” Private Baites said. “He has helped us out freely. Why would he help if he planned to sell his knowledge to others?”

“That’s enough Baites, keep yourself in check. You’ve got a lot to learn about doing what you can for the greater good”

“I figured you'd come to this conclusion.” The Doctor told him. “That's why you’ve only got a few minutes to make use of those notes.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t use one of your pens to write that, I used mine. It’s invisible ink, seriously. In ten minutes all the writing will vanish forever and I’ll refuse to rewrite it.” The Doctor held up a very unique looking pen and smiled wide.

Mitchell quickly looked down at the notes the Doctor gave him and the first lines were already beginning to fade.

“You tricked me!” Mitchell called out as he quickly put his gun away and frantically began looking for a piece of paper and a pen. By now Tegan had picked up all the paper and neatly stacked them at the far end of the room. Mitchell ran over to grab some paper. “Hold them, keep them here!” He called out to Baites.

Baites gave a sheepish grin to the Doctor and grabbed his gun. Suddenly he dropped it to the floor, as though some invisible force knocked it away from him. “Sir, he knocked it out of my hands, they’re getting away.” Baites nodded quickly to the Doctor, giving him a chance to make his escape.

“Quickly, to the Tardis.” The Doctor yelled to Tegan and Turlough. They left the room to make a hasty retreat.

“Start copying this.” Mitchell told Baites, “I’ll bring them back.” Mitchell left the room and took off towards the Doctor. He withdrew his gun but the Doctor was already in the storage room with his Tardis. As Mitchell ran into the room, he saw the blue shape of the police box vanish.

“How could you give him all that information?” Turlough asked.

“I couldn’t stop what they’ve already begun so I made sure all the information I gave them would take years to understand. Knowing their government all the research will get lost in the shuffle. And after the accident today, I’m sure they won’t try another experiment for years to come.”

“I don’t recall ever hearing about time travel being worked on, by any government.” Tegan admitted.

“Well, no you probably wouldn’t have. This sort of research is usually hushed up, but you have likely heard about this incident.”

“Oh really?” Tegan said, baiting the Doctor for more information.

* * * * *

Back in the building Mitchell was on the phone. “Yes, that’s what I said. There’s been an incident. An explosion of sorts.” The person on the other end inquired what sort. “It’s hard to explain. It’ll be in my report. The damage, the alien craft, the……” The other end of the phone line was frantic. Mitchell was getting frustrated. “No, I didn’t say an alien spaceship crash landed. No, there are not survivors.” Another pause. Mitchell finally sighed, “Yes of course we’ll have to cover this up. No, we don’t want people thinking aliens crash-landed in Roswell New Mexico. Yes sir.” Mitchell hung up the phone, upset his superior didn’t understand him. Just another day in military intelligence. He grabbed a pen and marked off the date on the calendar before returning to his room for the night. July 8th, 1947.


Next - Quantum Leap - Tear Down This Wall (Part 4)

*This is part 16 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 15

Legion of Super Heroes - Against All Odds (Part 3)*

“What are you going to do with that?” Jo asks Querl who just drew a gun from his side belt.

“I need you to take this if you are going to join the girls.” Querl dropped his force field and handed the gun to Jo.

“I don’t get it, why send me on the goose chase? Why the mystery?” Jo asked as he took the weapon.

Querl sighed, not wanting to explain himself but knowing Jo wouldn’t let it go till he did. “I only needed Tinya, Reep and Violet for the mission. I told you once I did not require your assistance but you persisted. I assumed you'd follow any way with your own time bubble so I devised the ‘goose chase’ to keep you busy. I’ll give you credit, you figured it out sooner than I expected.”

Jo clenched his fists in anger but didn’t approach Querl. “And what about Reep? Did you force him to jump out to give him something to do?”

“Do you still think he’s dead? Grife, he’s conducting his part of the mission. This was supposed to strictly be a mission for the Espionage Squad, which last I checked, you were not.”

Jo looked at the weapon. “So what is this then? I don't need a gun”

“We are doing reconnaissance to figure out what causes the melt down in the 31st century. Once we isolate it, we can repair it without causing any further damage to the time stream. With the espionage squad infiltrating the base we would likely go undetected, we need to make sure no one remembers us. This device will erase the memory of anyone you run into. I’m assuming you want to help the other team?”

“I can be there in two seconds.”

“Not so fast.” Querl told him. “We may need a quick escape. You should probably carry the time bubble.”

“That will slow me down; I won’t be able to use ultra speed.”

“Yes, I know how your power works. Don’t worry, they can look after themselves. I detect several young adults on the beach several meters away, we don’t want them to find the time bubble.”

Jo’s face grimaced as he told Querl, “Get in the bubble.”

* * * * *

“It’s too bad Lyle was unavailable. We could have used his invisibility and technical expertise.” Violet told Tinya.

“You don’t have to understand what they are saying; just record the conversations so Querl can decipher it later. In your miniature size you’ll be just as invisible as Lyle. Now hurry up Vi, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“I know.” Violet replied as she engaged her flight ring and shrank down small enough to fly out of the keyhole in the door. She tracked the energy reading, and made her way to the lower portion of the building. When she got to the scientists she heard a big commotion.

“We’ve lost the signal. Johnson’s been diverted!”

“What did you do!?” Another scientist said excited. Violet made sure her recorder was turned on as she progressed into the room to see what all the commotion was. The scientists were yelling to someone behind Violet. When she turned to look around, what she saw shocked and horrified her.

* * * * *

Tinya spent her time investigating the rooms. There wasn’t much except empty boxes and packing material. Done with her current room, she phased herself and went into the next room. This one surprised her more. Though still pretty empty, it had a small desk with a computer. The walls had several pictures on the wall of a desert and a few soldiers standing by army jeeps. Standing prominently in several was a man with a thin mustache.

The light in the room suddenly turned on and Tinya turned around. An older man with a thin mustache, dressed in an army uniform held a gun in her direction. She was still phased so assumed the gun wouldn’t be able to hurt her.

“You must be the one who can walk through walls.” The man said as he pulled up a small staff like rod and put the gun away. Once pointed at Tinya, he pressed a button on the side of the staff. A crackle of energy snaked out and engulfed Tinya. Even though phased, she felt the pain and screamed out. Suddenly, she was solid again and hit the ground, out cold.

“Take her.” The man called to two other soldiers who entered the room and picked her up. They dragged her downstairs and threw her against a wall where Violet was, full size and unconscious as well. Next to her were two charred bodies.

The soldiers looked at the charred bodies in disgust when a man behind them spoke. “Excellent. You have done well. I might even let you live.” The man laughed and when he did there was a crackle of energy, like living lightening surrounding his body. That was the reason everyone in the 31st century called Mekt Rannz, Lightening Lord.

(To Be Concluded)


Next - Doctor Who; Crossing the Barrier - Part 4

*This is part 15 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 14

Sliders - No Time To Slide (Part 3)*

The dodo bird made an odd squawking sound, but seemed unharmed. It walked around the room as if nothing happened to it.

“Perhaps we should cover the body.” The Professor suggested.

Rembrandt walked back over to the stairs, on a pile of boxes was a tarp. He opened it up to cover the body.

“Quinn give him a hand.” Wade said, distracting him from observing the dodo bird.

“Where did the dodo bird come from?” Rembrandt asked.

“He must have slid to a world where they aren’t extinct.” Wade suggested.

“I think not,” Professor Arturo said. “The signature of the wormhole is different. It’s not suggesting slides to a parallel dimension.”

“Then where?” Rembrandt asked. He thought for a second then continued, “you mean time travel? Is that possible?” He looked in Quinn’s direction.

“It’s possible, explains the odd equations. Originally I hoped of building a time machine till I concluded it was impossible. Perhaps I was wrong.”

Suddenly there was noise from upstairs that drew everyone’s attention. Muffled talking from somewhere in the house because louder as it reached the top of the stairs.

“What do we do?” Wade asked worried.

“Not much we can do.” Quinn said as a couple of people came walking down the stairs. He shrugged and added, “We’ve still got half an hour before we slide.”

When the two arrived at the bottom of the stairs they looked at the four but didn’t seem surprised.

“What’s the status?” They asked. The four looked at each other for a few seconds, not sure how to reply.

“Not very good.” Arturo reported. “We’ve got a casualty.” He indicated the makeshift body bag.

“Was that Johnson?” The taller, brown haired man asked. “Such a pity. He was pretty talented.”

The sound of the dodo bird drew everyone’s attention. The shorter blond man didn’t seem surprised to see the bird. “It’s not all bad, looks like we’ve got something to write home about.” He said pointing at the bird.

Wade was upset at the disregard for the dead body. “This man is dead. Shouldn’t we do something about that?”

“What do you expect us to do about it? Clean up your own mess.” The taller man said.

“We’ve come to get your report. Have you made any additional progress?” Both men looked at the four. On various worlds the Sliders visited, they were at times mistaken for their doubles. It seemed this was the case once more. The men recognized at least one of the four; the question was which one. Or did they recognize all of them? And what sort of report were they expecting?

“The field was not as stable as we expected.” Quinn told them, hoping this was what the two wanted to hear. At the moment, it didn’t.

“Why would I ask you.” The taller man said.

“Like we’re going to report back at the word of a grunt.” The blond man added. It seemed the two worked together for a long time, responding to each other almost like a married couple.

“Mr. Brown, is your theory viable for further study?” He pointed down to the dodo bird. “It seems something survived the glide experiment.”

“Why did the bird survive and Johnson did not?”

“Well uh…” Rembrandt began. “As my colleague was saying, the field wasn’t as stable as we assumed it might be. The bird had better protection.”

Professor Arturo added, “It’s also possible the bird would turn the same way as poor Mr. Johnson if it went back through the wormhole. Without better stability, the vortex can become deadly.”

The two men exchanged glances with each other. “It’s interesting how you’ve entrusted the cleaning staff with this top secret project.” The taller man once again began.

“Shouldn’t they be disposing the body?” The blond man asked.

This time Rembrandt sounded upset. “I thought under the circumstances I should let them know. I mean with Johnson dead, what was I going to do till you arrived?”

“Ah, yes a good point.”

“If you were not forgetting one important thing.”

“And what’s that?” Rembrandt asked.

“You hated Johnson.”

“With every fiber of your being.”

“I’m willing to bet you killed him.” The taller man said, continuing to take turns talking with his partner.

“So who are you?” The blond haired guy said pulling a gun on the small group. “Search them,” he told his partner.

Quinn tried to hide the timer behind his back, but it was quickly taken away.

“Well, what have we here?” He showed the timer to his companion. “I think they are spies, they were going to try and blow up the facility along with Professor Brown.

“Well, that wouldn’t be very nice. I suggest you disarm this. Or do you plan on killing us all?”

Quinn, Wade, Arturo and Rembrandt exchanged looks of frustration and disbelief.

(To Be Concluded)


Next - Legion of Super Heroes; Against All Odds - Part 3)

*This is part 14 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 13

Writers Block - The Getaway (Part 3)*

The water wasn’t nearly as cold as the ‘air’ on the life-raft. When Jenni asked Erick why he didn’t love her, he didn’t know how to respond. Was she being serious? She seemed genuine and sincere but how could he trust her after all she had done back in Milwaukee. In the past few hours odd things were happening and Erick was only now beginning to realize it along with Jenni. Back on the boat she asked if he noticed anything unusual. There was no time to reply however as the ship suddenly began to sink and they were put into a life-raft. Since then, not much was said. Erick’s attitude was cold and for the most part he ignored her. Probably not the best way to react considering the circumstances. He decided to swallow his pride and give her the benefit of the doubt.

“You said you noticed odd stuff happening?”

Jenni turned from watching the open sea to look at Erick. He could tell right away something different about her. Her eyes were not as piercing as usual; also her demeanor was calmer. “You haven’t?” She replied back, almost challenging him to say he hadn’t.

“Well, you’re not trying to throw me off the raft, I guess that’s odd.” He laughed to himself, hoping it would ease the situation. It didn't.

“What did I ever do to make you hate me so?”

“Plenty,” Erick explained. “Are you really trying to tell me you don’t remember all the horrible things you’ve said to me, all the lies you’ve told? Just because you didn’t get your way?”

“I would never.” She seemed very sincere once more. “Maybe in some alternate reality I might have, but not me, not who I am right now.”

Many strange things happened to Erick recently. So many in fact, it was hard for him to dismiss what Jenni was saying. “Maybe there is something strange going on. To be honest, I was starting to think the same thing before you mentioned it. I was looking around for my girlfriend Vicki and couldn’t remember if she were on the trip with me or not.”

Jenni winced inside at the mention of Erick’s girlfriend. “I had a sudden weird feeling I was on an airplane and you were telling me about some creature you saw on the wing outside.”

Erick had to admit, it was something he would do. He closed his eyes and tried to think back. “I had a daydream like that when I was reading my book. We were in the airport and a loud squeal came from the intercom system.”

“Yes, that sounds familiar though I can’t recall when it happened.” Jenni and Erick looked at each other with new-found wonder as they tried to piece together the strange events taking place. Suddenly the lifeboat rocked as the waves suddenly picked up. Looking around, Erick saw land about half a mile away, he hadn’t noticed it earlier.

“Jenni, I see land!” Erick pointed in the direction. “Grab those paddles, let’s make our way there.” Once they reached the shore, Jenni sat down in the sand and began crying.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He rushed over to comfort her.

“I haven’t seen any other life rafts.” She explained. “Are we the only ones who made it?”

“For the moment, I’m not sure if anyone else was on the boat with us. Come on, we need to figure out where we are and if there's civilization.” Erick offered his hand to pull Jenni up.

Accepting Erick’s help, Jenni suddenly gave him a hug. “I’m sorry for whatever I might have ever done to you, in any reality.” She tried to hold back her tears but suddenly had to let go. “We’ve known each other since grade school, how could I have become so bitter?”

“I don’t know. But you changed for the worse when your family moved to Florida for those many years.” Her eyes widened.

“We never moved to Florida. My dad was offered a job but he never accepted it.” The two exchanged looks as they started to realize what the difference between them was.

“For the record, I like you better than my Jenni. We dated for a few years after you moved back, but you were far too different and I had changed also.”

Jenni nodded in understanding. “Maybe now isn't the time to dwell on that. Let’s see if we can find something down the beach. Perhaps we’ll find an opening in the tree line.” The two began walking, as they continued a hum was suddenly audible.

“Do you hear that?” Erick asked. Jenni nodded.

“I wonder what that is.”

“I think it’s coming from this direction. Let’s check it out.” Erick started running towards the sound, getting closer to the trees, Jenni followed. Several yards before he reached the trees however, a man came running out of the jungle.

“Get out! Save yourselves! We’ve got to get away!”

(To Be Concluded)


Next - Sliders; No Time To Slide - Part 3)

*This is part 13 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 12

Quantum Leap - Tear Down This Wall (Part 3)*

Sam looked around wondering if anyone saw him hit the ground. Fortunately, the street was quiet. He picked himself up and made his way to the house where Andrew lived. It was a two bedroom, one being used for fitness. A jump rope hung on the wall and a couple of medicine balls were on the floor along with dumbbells. He tossed the gym bag into the room and walked back to the living room, pacing up and down hoping Al would arrive with additional information. He turned the television on as a distraction and recognized the show but with his Swiss-cheese brain he couldn't think of the name. Four men were racing down the road in a black van with a red stripe down the side. Half of the men were hanging out of the windows shooting guns at a car in front of them. The oldest looking man finally squeezed off a shot that blew the cars tire. The car spun wildly out of control and flipped over. As the van came to a stop he pulled himself back into the van, taking the cigar out of his mouth he said, ‘I love it when a plan comes together’. Sam said the line along with him, remembering it, as if it had been said many times before. He then ignored the TV and went back to pacing up and down.

His contemplation was interrupted by the sound of the chamber door. Al stepped in and noticed dried blood under Sam's nose. “What happened to you?”

“I ran into Amy’s husband. He punched me when he felt I was sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.”

“Was it?” Al asked.

“How can you ask me that? I was leaving the gym and saw Amy walking down the street crying. I went to make sure she wasn’t hurt and he pulled up in his car and punched me before taking her home.”

Al considered telling Sam he should have been more careful, then realized he would have done the same thing.

“So what did you find?”

“This is interesting Sam. He’s a military scientist working on a shielding project to stabilize quantum energy signatures.”

The words made Sam think for a second, “Isn’t that a field I specialize in? Am I here to give him the answers?” Sam sounded and looked disgusted.

“No, no. That’s part of the unusual bit. He’s highly skilled in this area. But his work on this project stopped suddenly when his wife left him. The break-up tore him apart and he became unraveled. Eventually the military let him go, his work was handed to someone else?”

“So I need to make sure his marriage lasts, so he continues the project? What difference does it make if he’s on or not?”

“As I said, he’s exceptionally skilled in this area. And uh…” Al trailed off as he kept looking at the display.”

“What? Did something happen? Al.”

“The person who took over for him was not as skilled. The shielding his replacement came up with was utilized in 2009. But it wasn’t as strong as it should have been; there was an incident which caused a catastrophic explosion, thousands of people died. If there was better shielding it could have been avoided. You need to make sure things are patched up between Amy and Matthew.”

“How am I going to do that? He tried to take my head off last time we met.”

Al didn’t respond but looked towards the TV, which was now showing a special news report. Both paused for a second as they listened to Ronald Reagan. A crowd gathered in front of him at the Brandenburg gate was cheering. When it died down Reagan continued. “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.”



“I’m not sure how you’re going to do it Sam, but one thing is certain. You need to tear down the wall that has come between Amy and Matthew.” Al tapped a few buttons on his machine, “He’s at a local pub, ‘the Sugar Shack’, a mile west of here.”

“Sure, he can go out.” Sam muttered to himself.

(To Be Concluded)


Next - Writers Block; The Getaway - Part 3)

*This is part 12 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 11

Doctor Who - Crossing the Barrier (Part 3) *

Baites did as he was told. When he opened the door, half of the room was gone engulfed in a bright light which sparkled with silver highlights. The same scientist who addressed the Doctor before was lying on the floor, half his body outside the light, the other half inside and stripped to the bone. Clothes, flesh and organs were gone, even the bones seemed brittle and old. Tegan shrieked at the horrible sight.

Totally ignoring Baites now, the Doctor stormed into the room. The light was bright and still active. He raced over to one of the large computers and flicked a few of the switches. The other scientist was scrambling around not noticing the Doctor immediately. When he did he raced over to stop him.

“Stop, you have no idea what you are doing.” The Doctor didn’t move so the scientist shoved him aside and grabbed the master power switch. “We’ve got to shut the power off.”

“No, don’t!” The Doctor called out, but the scientist didn’t listen and cut the power to the project.

“Get Tegan out of here!” The Doctor called to Turlough. The light in the room seemed to be abating, making Turlough hesitate but the Doctor called out, “NOW!”

Turlough did as he was told and left with Tegan, followed closely by Private Baites. There was a sudden surge from the energy in the middle of the room. It reached out in various directions, especially where the power was being supplied. The scientist was suddenly enveloped in energy and he let out a yell of horror as he watched his own body age and decay. In a second he was a pile of ash on the ground. The energy finally abated, leaving various objects aged and others in better condition than they were originally.

The Doctor removed his hat as he looked down to the pile of ash.

“What did you do?” Captain Mitchell snarled at him.

“I did nothing. I was trying to shut off the power without causing an overload. This much power and energy needs to be shut down gradually, not all at once. He should have listened. Such a foolish waste of human life.”

“Who are you?” Mitchell asked almost to himself.

“I was answering your distress call. I’m called the Doctor and my companions are Tegan and Turlough.” He indicated the door and called out, “You can come back in now, the danger has passed for now.”

“I didn’t send any distress call, how could you possibly have known?”

“You were experimenting with time travel were you not?” The Doctors face frowned and he looked exasperated and perplexed.

“That information is classified.”

“Not to me, I picked up your errant stray tachyon particles in the vortex. That’s as much a distress call to me as anything else.”

“Doctor what was that?” Turlough asked with his harsh brusqueness.

“Are you sure we’re safe?” Tegan asked?

The Doctor turned from Mitchell for a second and addressed his companions. “Yes Tegan, as long as they don’t try switching the power back on, we should all be fine. Thank you for looking after my companions.” The Doctor nodded towards Baites.

“How am I going to explain this?” Mitchell said to himself more than anyone else.

“My suggestion would be to cover it up. You military sorts are good at that. Certainly don’t want anyone know you’ve started experimenting with time travel. Can you imagine if word got out?”

Mitchell nodded with the Doctor.

“Now let’s see what we have here.” The Doctor examined the ticker tape, spewing out information.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Tegan asked.

“Ask Captain Mitchell. I need to check for any repercussions because of this.”

“You could fetch a broom woman.”

“Excuse me?” Tegan said shocked. She really wanted to help, not play house-maid.

“You did offer to help.” The Doctor said, hoping to ease the situation. “Turlough will help.” Turlough shot him the same glance Tegan gave Mitchell. The Doctor caught it and added, “there’s a good chap.” He concluded with a smile.

Turlough sighed but followed Tegan out of the room. Mitchell glanced towards Baites and Baites followed the two, showing them where cleaning supplies could be found.

“So what’s the verdict?”

“Well, you’ve got no shielding for the amount of power being generated. Once you find a way to do that, you’ll be ready for more testing.”

“Oh, I’ve found proper shielding I believe.”

“Have you?” The Doctor was perplexed.

“You did say you were a time traveler?” Captain Mitchell drew his gun once more and aimed it at the Doctor. “Perhaps it’s time to get a look at your time machine.”

“Oh I hate guns.” The Doctor said disappointed.

(To Be Concluded)


Next - Quantum Leap; Tear Down This Wall - Part 3

*This is part 11 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 10

Legion of Super Heroes - Against All Odds (Part 2)*

“Jo! What are you thinking?” Tinya yelled as she grabbed her boyfriend and pulled him away from Querl.

Querl sat up and wiped blood from his lips. “Are you finished? Or do you want to take another shot at me? Decide fast because Earth's future is coming to an end.”

Jo shook himself away from Tinya but didn’t advance further towards Querl. “How about having a little empathy for a fallen comrade?”

“You two have to get along. Vi and I will be gone for awhile and I need to know you won’t kill each other.”

“I’m not going to kill him.” Jo admitted, “I’ll search for the ore and stay away till you girls get back.” Considering Tinya’s mood, he decided to switch his Ultra energy to speed and quickly flew away.

“Can you hold the fort with little to no damage?” She asked Querl.

“You don’t have to check on me, I can handle myself. I do suggest you search for the military base before anything else distracts you. These temporal anomalies are already beginning to change realities.”

“Violet, let’s go.” Tinya said, seemingly to no one. She engaged her flight ring and flew off into a group of trees. Salu Digby, better know to her comrades as Shrinking Violet, or just Vi for short resumed her normal size as she shrank herself during the commotion. Her flight ring was also engaged and she took off after Tinya.

Querl tapped his Omnicom for a second. Suddenly he stopped and looked around to make sure Jo, Tinya or Vi were no longer in the area. “They’ve gone.” He suddenly said.

From the bottom of the time sphere an ooze began dripping to the ground. It moved along the ground and stopped just before reaching Querl. It congealed and reformed itself till suddenly it represented a male biped with orange skin. “What’s the deal with the secrecy?” Reep Daggle, Chameleon Boy, asked him.

“I want them to think you’re not with us. It’s likely one or more of us could be captured. If that happens I need those three unaware we have a shape shifter in the group, just in case they are questioned or tortured by these ignorant monkeys. As leader of the Espionage Squad you should have realized that.”

Reep gave him a hurt look, “You really are a crappy friend.”

* * *

“How far away is this place?” Violet quietly asked Tinya. Fortunately they were close enough for Violet to be heard.

“According to the energy signature I’m reading, it’s just ahead. Perhaps you should scout ahead. We don’t want anyone to see us walk in.” Tinya disengaged her flight ring and began to walk once more.

Salu nodded her head and shrank down to the size of a fly. She left the cover of the trees for about a minute. When she came back, she gave her report, “No one outside but several perimeter cameras and motion sensors on the ground.”

“That’s easily taken care of.” Tinya took from her utility belt a small hand-held device. Pressing one of the buttons and returned the device to her belt pouch. “I’ve disengaged the cameras, we shouldn’t have any problems. Motion sensors won’t detect me in my phantom form.” Her body was suddenly transparent, allowing her to phase through anything. She flew off towards the clearing where several smaller buildings surrounded a large main one. Salu flew off after her, still the size of a fly. They approached the building without being seen. Either the building was not as heavily guarded as Querl told them it might be, or they were all inside, possibly protecting something else.

Approaching the building, Tinya stuck her head through the outside wall cautiously. “No one in this room, follow me.” Tinya floated through the rest of the wall as Salu shrank herself even smaller to fit through a small gap in a corner of one of the windows. The room was dark and hardly furnished though enough light came in from the window to see clearly enough. Salu enlarged her body to full size.

“Now where do we go?”

Tinya took out another device and flipped it open. She clicked one of the buttons inside and the device beeped several times as she moved it around the room. “The energy signature is coming from this direction but it’s still faint. There’s probably a lower level they are conducting the experiments in. Let’s go.”

* * *

Jo scanned the ground for several minutes. He wasn’t able to find the mineral Querl told him to look for with his penetra vision. He widened his field of vision slightly and scanned deeper into the Earth. ‘There’s nothing here. Querl is playing me for a fool,’ Jo thought to himself. ‘Considering the mission we're on, why would he send me on a fool’s errand unless he's hidding something from me.’ “Bloody Nass”, Jo said out loud as he suddenly switched his ultra energy from penetra vision to speed and flew back to Querl as fast as possible. Jo stopped suddenly without hitting him as his force-field was already activated.

“Figured it out already did you?” Querl told him as he took a futuristic gun from his belt.



Next - Doctor Who; Crossing the Barrier - Part 3

*This is part 10 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 9

Sliders - No Time to Slide (Part 2)*

The vortex didn’t close; A factor which didn’t escape the notice of Quinn or Arturo.

“How is the rift being maintained without overloading the system?” Quinn asked Arturo.

“My boy, if you don’t know how would I? Not till closer inspection of the equipment any way.” The Professor walked over to the computer desk and shifted through a few papers.

“What’s the problem Q-Ball?” Rembrandt asked.

“The vortex is supposed to close. It takes a great amount of power to open the rift. Whoever is keeping it open must have an unlimited amount of power.”

“And are very irresponsible.” Arturo added.

“What do you mean?” Wade asked.

“Can you imagine what would happen Miss Wells if every world we slid from, left a vortex behind?”

Wade’s face revealed the shock as the problem dawned on her.

“Still,” Quinn continued. “Maintaining a stable wormhole means not having to rely on a timer. Simply slide back when finished exploring.

“If still alive,” The Professor added. Again stressing how dangerous the stable wormhole was.

“So are the people who slid from this vortex still alive on the other side?”

“And when are they coming back?” Wade added.

“And are they dangerous?” Rembrandt added.

Quinn walked over to the computer desk with Professor Arturo and began examining the contents of the desk. The pair continued shuffling through paperwork as Wade checked the computer.

“I guess I’ll just stand here and look pretty.” Rembrandt said, he always felt the odd one out, never really a part of the group. Quinn and Arturo were the brains and Wade had her computer skills to fall back on. All Remmy could provide was a song if needed, in most situations a skill not required. He decided to check the other side of the room for any other bits of information. Remembering back to when he was a child in his basement he always found items of interest stacked under the basement stairs so decided to search there first.

“These equations are all wrong.” Quinn told the Professor who also noticed the same thing.

“What do you mean?” Wade asked, looking up from the computer.

“It looks like they were trying to do something entirely different.”

Arturo glanced over Quinn’s shoulder. “I’ve seen this before. These are the equations used when shifting protons milliseconds into the future.”

“For what?” Rembrandt said, standing up from his examination. As he stood, the vortex sudden shifted. A man flew out towards Rembrandt who instinctively caught him. He wore tattered clothes, as if they were ripped apart by some unknown force. His face was red with blood and the rest of his body was not much better. He clutched a bundle of cloths tucked in between his hands; the bundle seemed to be moving as if something was alive inside. Rembrandt almost dropped the man from shear revulsion. The others ran over as Rembrandt set the man down easily. He was gasping for breath, and apparently blind. The vortex suddenly closed behind him.

“It was,... another failure.” He said to Rembrandt. “Something is still wrong. We... we still don’t have the proper equations.” The man gasped out his last breath and suddenly went limp. Wade covered her mouth and turned away. As the man died, the bundle he was holding dropped to the ground. Breaking free of the minimal protection was a bird. An odd looking bird to be sure, one not seen on Earth in a long time.

“Mr. Mallory, I do believe that’s a dodo bird.”


Next - Legion of Super Heroes; Against All Odds - Part 2

*This is part 9 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 8

Writers Block - The Getaway (Part 2)*

Erick and Vicki sat on the plane. They were fortunate enough to get seats together. Sure, they would have found a way to get seats together, this was just easier. Erick sat next to the window and looked out. “Wow, those people on the ground..”

“Look like ants.” Vicki finished for him. “We haven’t left the ground. Honestly, that’s the oldest joke in the book.”

Erick tried his best to not look offended. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” he admitted.

“And for the love of all that’s good or evil in this world, do NOT start telling me you saw something on the wing of the plane.”

“What’s gotten into you? You’re not usually like this.”

“You know how nervous I am about this flight. I almost didn’t come.” She offered a fake, but nervous laugh.

“Sorry, I’m so excited I forgot how much you’re dreading this.” An intercom interrupted any further conversation for the moment.

“Good morning everyone. My name is Janet, I'll be your flight attendant to Heathrow. We’re ready for take off so if you could make sure your seat belts are secured, we are approaching the runway for take-off now.” As the stewardess turned the microphone off there was a sudden piercing, squelching sound.

“They really should have that looked at.” Darryl told Erick.

Erick agreed. “No kidding, that would freak out Vicki if she came along. I wish she'd changed her mind, but she’s so terrified of flying. I’m not going to enjoy London as much without her.”

“Thanks a lot.” Darryl joked, but knew what Erick meant. “So are you ready for your first flight?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe. How about you? Got your air sickness bag?” Erick laughed out loud.

“I don’t get airsick.” He told him, looking around he noticed a few others laughing. “I don’t get airsick.” He said to everyone, they continued to laugh anyway. “You know…”

Another loud pitched squeal was heard over the plane.”

“…you joke around too much.” Jenni scolded him. “Why I ever put up with you when we were dating is beyond me.”

“If you hate sitting by me so much, switch with someone else Darryl.”

“What?” Jenni looked at him as if he was crazy.

“What?” Erick asked back.

“You just called me Darryl.” Jenni crinkled her nose as she snarled at him.

“No I didn’t. You’re imagining things ‘four point’.” Erick loved to use the nickname he alone called her because it irritated her so much.

“You did too.” Jenni said adamantly.

“Whatever, so I had a slip of the tongue.” Erick was sure he hadn’t called her Darryl but was growing tired of dealing with her and didn’t want to give her more ammunition. That and he wanted to enjoy his first take-off in silence. He opened a book and did what he could to ignore her as she suddenly went into one of her tirades. Erick thumbed through the book, looking at various pictures till Jenni was finally quiet.

“At last,” he said as he put the book down on the small table next to him. “I thought she would never go away.” Standing up, he walked to the side of the boat and looked over the edge. The water was churning and the boat rocked up and down with each wave. He dismissed a random thought of pushing Jenni over the side. She didn’t really deserve it, but it was nice to think about. Erick closed his eyes for a minute and felt the breeze blow against his face. ‘If only Vicki were here’ he thought to himself. Suddenly his eyes opened wide and he looked around confused. He was on a boat, of course he was on a boat, he knew he was on a boat. But something didn’t feel right. He looked around and noticed no one else around, the deck was empty. None of his classmates were out, no other passengers at all. Where would they be? It was too nice a day for them to be in cabins or other parts of the ship.

“I’ve got to find Vicki’, Erick though as he walked towards the dining area. A second later he though, ‘But she didn't come.’ The thought made him stop again. Couldn’t he remember if his girlfriend was on the trip or not? Why would she miss this, she loved boats. Erick closed his eyes and tried to think back. Suddenly he gave up. “This doesn’t make sense.” How could he not remember? He needed to share this with someone, anyone. Looking around he couldn’t find any of his close friends. ‘It’s too nice a day for them to be inside.’ he thought to himself. Suddenly he stopped once more, having just experienced a déjà-vu moment.

“Erick!” Jenni’s voice called to him from behind. But it wasn’t an irate shrill, it sounded more terrified.

“What?” He said impatiently and upset. He just got rid of her and now she was obviously back to aggravate him more.

“Have you noticed anything odd?”

“You mean besides you running to me?” He sarcastically answered back.
Her reaction was not what he expected, she began to cry. “Don’t be cruel at a time like this. I thought you loved me?”

“How could I? After all you….” he was drown out by a loud horn blasting from all over the ship.

An intercom turned on, “Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Please make your way calmly and quietly to the lifeboats. Abandon ship!” Jenni threw herself into Erick’s arms and began to sob uncontrollably.



Next - Sliders; No Time to Slide - Part 2

*This is part 8 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 7

Quantum Leap - Tear Down This Wall (Part 2)*

With the room empty, Sam and Al were able to talk without Sam having to reply in code. When others were around, Sam had to carefully reply since no one could see Al. And the last thing needed was his host to be viewed as crazy.

“What happened?” Sam asked?

“I don’t know.” Al pressed a few buttons frantically but the device still wouldn’t respond. “It was fine before I came in. I’ve never seen it lose power like this.”

“Can you remember where I am at least?”

“Oh yes, June 12th 1987.” Al hesitated as he waited to see if the date meant anything. Sam shook his head and waited for Al to continue.

“This is the day Ronald Reagan gave his speech at the Brandenburg Gate telling Gorbechev to tear down the Berlin Wall.”

Sam sighed, “I hate the 80’s. Was there any reasoning you feel I need to save their marriage?” As Sam said this, there was a blip from Al's hand-link.

“Sam, I've got a bit of power here. 80% it’s now saying.” The back light on the display was faint but steady. “I think it started losing power when you suggested helping Amy instead of her marriage.”

“I don’t see why I would be helping her marriage if her husband is abusive.”

“I didn’t see any abuse.” Al had to admit. Looking down, he noticed the screen was gone again. “Powers gone.”

“This is ridiculous.” Sam admitted, still he was up for his own little experiment. “I’ll try to save her marriage as long as I don’t think I’m putting her in any dangerous situation.”

The power returned suddenly and Al quickly hit a switch, opening the imaging chamber door. “I think someone is trying to tell you something.” Al pointed to the ceiling.

“Don’t be stupid.” Sam said. Still, he had to admit it was eerie how the project lost power every time he suggested helping Amy instead of her marriage.

“See what you can do. I’m going to research what I can find out about Amy or her husband.” Hurriedly, Al stepped out of the imaging room and the door closed behind him, leaving Sam to himself. He looked around the room for anything to more clearly identify who he was. Amy called him Andrew so he knew his name. In one corner Sam found a gym bag. Upon inspection he found a wallet with Andrews name in it and a set of car keys. He grabbed the keys and put the wallet into a pocket of the gym bag. He picked up the bag and headed outside to find the car. Stepping outside he noticed a single car along the road. He locked the door to the gym behind him and tested the car keys to make sure they opened the car. When they did Sam threw the bag inside and was about to get in when he saw Amy half a block away. She was walking slowly and looked upset. Instead of getting into the car, Sam ran off towards Amy.

“Amy.” He called as he approached her. She quickly tried to dry some tears.

“Don’t.” She said picking up her pace.

“What’s wrong?” He insisted.

“He left me.” She said. “…told me if I wanted to be out and about I could walk home.”

“I don’t understand.” Sam told her. “What’s going on? Really?”

Amy stopped walking and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong. He’s never been like this. Ever since he started working on that new project handed over from the Roswell branch he’s been irate and explosive. I know you think I’m just saying it, but he was never like this.”

“Well maybe it’s none of my business.” Sam admitted to her. “But that shouldn’t be an excuse for treating you like that. It was uncalled for.”

“I’ve…” She stopped herself for a moment then continued. “I’ve been thinking of leaving him.”

“Has he hit you?” Sam asked.

“No, he’s never laid a hand on me, I… I just don’t know how much of this I can handle. He refuses to talk to me so I have no idea what he’s going through. He says the project is too top secret to talk about.”

Sam hated to see a woman upset and stressed out, but he knew he couldn’t support her idea of leaving her husband, as much as he wanted to. He wasn’t sure how to encourage her, whatever he said wouldn’t be what he really wanted to suggest.

Suddenly the sound of a car screeching could be heard. Looking over to the road, Amy’s husband pulled up and put his car in park and ran over. “Get your hands off her!” He said, pushing Sam backward. He grabbed Amy’s arm and Sam saw her wince in pain. “Get in the car!” He yelled at her.

“Hey!” Sam said moving back toward Amy and Matthew. In a second, Matthew turned around and smashed Sam in the face, knocking him to the ground. Sam could feel the blood begin to trickle down his nose.

Amy looked to Sam on the ground but ran to the car.

“Mind your own business.” Matthew told him. He was back in the car and driving down the street before Sam could even get back up.



Next - Writers Block; The Get Away Part 2

*This is part 7 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space - Part 6

Doctor Who - Crossing the Barrier (Part 2)*

The Doctor opened the door at the far end of the room and stepped out with Tegan and Turlough. Suddenly he stopped; a man with a gun turned and pointed it at him. “How did you get in there? How did you get into this building at all? Roswell is supposed to be a secure location.” With no warning, the man fired his gun at the Doctor.

The Doctor stood, holding his ground. Not even flinching. Turlough jumped and Tegan let out a scream.

“Next time I won’t miss.” The young, man with a thin mustache told him. “Now come with me.” All three raised their hands as they moved along the corridor at gunpoint.

“I don’t suppose I could ask where we are going?” The Doctor asked, not impressed.

“Why don’t you shut up?” The man said quickly, then added, “I’m not authorized to answer any questions.”

“Ahh, just following orders. That’s a good soldier.” Tegan shot the Doctor a look to be quiet. Turlough assumed the Doctor was up to something, as he always seemed to be.

The officer didn’t take the bait and kept himself quiet till they arrived at the far end of the corridor. There was a keypad and lock on the door and the officer brushed past the three to key in his code. Turlough took the opportunity to inch his way up behind the officer. He clenched his hands and was about to hit the guard in the back of the neck when the Doctor reached up and stopped Turlough’s blow.

“What’s the idea?” the officer said turning around quickly hearing the scuffle.

“Sorry, my friend was getting impatient.” The Doctor said shooting him a smile.

The officer didn’t seem amused. He cocked his gun and pointed it, this time at Turlough. “Get in.” He ordered.

Turlough did as he was ordered and opened the door. The Doctor and Tegan were urged in as well.

“Captain Mitchell, I caught these intruders.” He stood at attention as he addressed his superior.

“At ease Private Baites. Where were they?”

Baites relaxed his stance to a small degree. “Coming out of storage room B.”

The Captain shot the three a look. “What on earth were you doing there? For spies you’re not well informed. No secrets to steal there.” He laughed.

Looking around, the Doctor saw several large antique computers, tape wheels spinning at ferocious speeds. Several scientists in lab coats were bustling about. “Perhaps not, but I do know about your little accident.”

“How could you possibly know, we only just had the incident.” Several of the scientists looked over to see if the Doctor really knew anything.

“I also know, if you don’t figure out what triggered the incident in the first place, a second more deadly tachyon pulse could result.”

“Impossible.” One of the scientists said walking over. “We’ve got the situation in hand.”

“Oh do you? Have you compensated for the feedback? Hmmmm? Or the reverse Tachyon pulse?” The scientist looked dumbfounded. Tegan and Turlough exchanged glances as the Doctor went on, knowing he was saying more than the scientist could comprehend.

“What are you talking about? That's nonsense.” The scientist gave the Captain a look to let him know his conversation with the Doctor was over. He went back to his computer station, reading a ticker tape as it spit out information.

“Should I find a place to lock them up?” Baites asked.

“You’re making a mistake.” The Doctor told him. “There’s going to be another surge which could prove deadly to us all.”

“Get him out of here.” The scientist called over.

The Captain turned to Private Baites. “Take them outside, lock them in the supply shed and guard them till I call for you.”

“Sir.” The Private called out as he took his gun back out and pointed it at the Tardis crew.

“Something really, really bad is about to happen. You’re dabbling in things you know nothing about,” the Doctor called back. Baites motioned for him to leave the room and enforced his point by cocking his gun again. The Doctor ignored him and continued. “You can’t conduct time experiments without proper precautions.” No one was listening and Baites looked ready to pull the trigger. Frustrated, the Doctor turned and walked out of the room with Tegan and Turlough.

Baites shut the door and was about to lock it when a loud explosion was heard from within the room. With the Privates attention back to the door, they Doctor reached for the gun and pried it from his hands quickly. Baites' face dropped as he expected a sudden death. The Doctor looked at the gun and handed it to Turlough. “Now open the door man. They could be hurt inside.”

Almost in shock, Baites did as he was told. When they opened the door, half of the room was gone, engulfed in a bright light which sparkled with silver highlights. The same scientist who addressed the Doctor before was lying on the floor, half his body was outside the light, the other half inside and stripped to the bone. Clothes, flesh and organs gone, even the bones seemed brittle and old. Tegan gasped at the horrible sight.


Next - Quantum Leap; Tear Down This Wall.

*This is part 6 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.