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.
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