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 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 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 4

Sliders - No Time to Slide (Part 1)*



Several birds were sitting peacefully in the grass. Suddenly agitated, they flew away. A second later a hole formed, ripping apart the fabric of space. The hole was the exit end of a space vortex which allowed its passengers to travel from one world to the next. The force the vortex propelled them at was hard to fight against and they usually ended up landing on top of each other. The first person through the vortex was a tall youth in his early 20’s. He hit the ground and rolled, he was accustomed to this by now. Following him was large man, large in every sense of the word. His closest friend was likely to be a jelly doughnut rather than a carrot stick. He landed quickly, rolled once then came to a stop. He knew two more were coming out of the wormhole and he wanted to be ready to avoid them as best as possible. The next one was a young lady, she came out flying faster than the other two, but more agile and landed on her feet, though tripping over the large mans legs. Finally, the last member exited the wormhole and he landed on one foot, tripped and hit the larger man in his stomach as he rolled over and onto the ground. The vortex behind them quickly closed as they picked themselves up.

“Mr. Mallory! One day, on one world we must seriously sit down and think of a better way for us to travel through the slide. I’m getting too old for this. It’s getting rough.”

“Well Professor, maybe if you took better care of yourself it wouldn’t be so bad.” This was the dry wit of Rembrandt Brown. He was always teasing the Professor about his weight. Professor Arturo knew it was Rembrandt's way of dealing with the sliding, but he didn't care for it.

“Remmy, cut him some slack.” Wade Wells scolded him. “Haven’t we got enough to deal with without insulting each other?”

Rembrandt’s smile faded as he picked himself up and then helped Professor Maximilian Arturo to his feet as well, “Sorry.”

Quinn Mallory ignored everyone as he looked around. They were in a clearing surround by a few trees. In the distance was a single building and a dense group of trees. “What do you guys make of that?” Quinn asked the group. This was Quinn’s diplomatic way of getting everyone to work together instead of against each other.

Rembrandt took a look around, “Seems the only place of civilization. I suppose we should head for it.”

“What if they’re not friendly?” Wade asked skeptically. They had landed on many alternate Earth's where trouble arose from their very arrival.

Rembrandt replied, “And what if they are? Come on Professor, maybe they have doughnuts.” He laughed at his joke while the rest of the group began to follow.

“How long do we have?” Quinn asked, Arturo was holding a timer which displayed when the next wormhole would open and suck them into the next world.

“Only three hours. Maybe we should hold back and rest till the next slide.” Professor Arturo was not looking forward to the half-mile walk to the building.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Quinn replied as he rushed to catch up with Wade and Rembrandt.

“I’m still waiting for it to catch up with me.”

The walk to the house was quiet; everyone in their own thoughts. It wasn’t often they had time to themselves; usually they were being chased by crazed drug-lords, tyrannical wizard impersonators, or dinosaurs, depending on which world they landed on. The house was plain, not much in the way of decoration either on the lawn, or the house itself. Rembrandt knocked on the door.

“Notice anything out of order?” Arturo asked.

Rembrandt didn’t notice anything unusual except for the sparseness of the decor. He shook his head.

Wade spoke, “No doorbell.” She looked again to see if anything else was unusual “and no locks.”

“Precisely Miss Wells. And that means?”

Quinn laughed to himself. Maximilian Arturo loved to play professor. Wade and Rembrandt were always happy to oblige.

“They are not expecting anyone to show up.”

“Or this is a open and friendly society.” Rembrandt added.

“Or they welcome all visitors.” Wade shot back.

“So perhaps we should walk right in.” Arturo opened the door and walked in, calling out 'Hello'. The building inside was as barren as it was outside, even furniture.

There was a moments pause as the group listened for a response. “I guess no one’s home.” Rembrandt offered up.

“Professor, check this out.” Quinn called out. He was investigating more of the house and was now in the kitchen. A few pieces of furniture were within. A table, chairs, and as Quinn opened one of the cupboards, it was full of food. Wade walked over and opened another cupboard, stacked with dishes.

“How very odd indeed,” Arturo said. He opened the refrigerator, for a second regretted it as he looked to see if Rembrandt was going to tease him. He didn’t. “Meats, cheeses, milk. All look fresh.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be in here?” Wade nervously added.

“Nonsense, if they didn’t want people inside, they would have….” Arturo was cut off by Quinn shushing him.

“Does anyone else hear that?” Everyone stopped and listened. They heard a humming noise coming from beneath them. Quinn walked over to a door at the far end of the kitchen and opened it. A flight of stairs led to a basement. “Hello?” Quinn shouted down the steps. There was no reply. He took a cautious step down. He listened, trying to hear other people. He shouted out ‘hello’ once more as he continued down the steps. Rembrandt followed him down with Wade and the Professor behind.

“Would you look at that?” Quinn said as he finished walking down the steps. He moved further into the room allowing the others to see what he was looking at. At the far wall was a desk with a sole computer on it, left on despite no one in the room. Yet, that wasn’t nearly as odd as the giant vortex, open in the center of the room.


Next: Legion of Super Heroes, "Against All Odds"

*This is part 4 of the 20 part 'Time And Alternate Dimension In Space'.
A Doctor Who, Quantum leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover.

What is TAADIS?

Time And Alternate Dimension In Space
Taadis is a 20 part story and a slight Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, Writers Block, Sliders & Legion of Super Heroes crossover. Each title is a 4-part story which can be read separately, or together as one giant story arc. Click on the "TAADIS" link above to access the published parts of the story.


It's the 31st century and Earth is a happy peaceful place. At least it was a moment ago. Rond Vidar has detected a time anomaly that could rip the Earth apart. A selection of Earth's heroes are sent into the past to investigate. But are they altering time or was this meant to happen? Featuring Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Shrinking Violet, Phantom Girl & Chameleon Boy.


The Sliders arrive in an open field with a single house in the distance. It seems abandoned but something strange is going on. The Sliders have actually stumbled into a secure military base. But what is the purpose of the base? And could the experiments be harmful to Earth? Featuring Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown & Professor Maximillion Arturo


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