associations3

Evening fades into night and the conversations finally wrap up at around two-thirty in the morning. Several hours later, everyone wakes up and decides how to spend the next few days here.

Colin remains at the Mallory Mansion. He continues to get to know his parents and sister, and they, in turn, get to know him. They discuss possibilities for the future, and Colin tries to decide whether or not his journey has come to an end. Should he stay here and settle down with his long-lost family, or should he continue sliding in search of his lost friends (Quinn and Maggie) and brother (whoever he may be)?

The Professor also remains at the Mallory Mansion. While there, he tells the Mallorys how proud he is of his Quinn, saying that he�s sure their son must be just as deserving of praise. For the first time, he also admits to having a good deal of respect for Colin as well�for his courage, his ingenuity, and so forth, the most recent example of which being the events which have just transpired.

After this, Geiger gives the Professor a tour of MalTec Labs. The Professor marvels at and revels in the advanced quantum technology and for once has little to grumble about. He and Geiger do debate as to whether the society of this world has become too dependent on technology, but it�s really an intellectual discussion rather than an actual argument. The Professor also works with Geiger to try to figure out a way to determine Earth Prime�s coordinates so they can be input into the timer.

They work arduously for several hours each day, but in the end are unable to accomplish their goal. They had been hoping that Earth Prime was a world that the Mallorys were familiar with, but the Professor�s quantum signature doesn�t match any of the dimensional signatures they have on file. Though he isn�t able to find a way home, the Professor does have some constructive conversations with Geiger about possible ways to separate Quinn and Mallory, should they ever be found, so their work together isn�t a complete waste of time.

Their work done for the night, Geiger offers to show the Professor to his room. Arturo accepts, and as they begin down the hall, they begin a casual conversation. Well a few moments into it, the conversation turns to the current troubles with the KroMagg Dynasty, and when it does so, the Professor suddenly gets and idea. He stops in his tracks and looks at Geiger with determination. He announces that, �I�ve just had the most intriguing idea. Follow me.� Geiger has little choice but to follow, and so he does, and the two head back to the lab from which they just left.

After talking with the Mallorys for a while, Wade goes to visit her parents� doubles in prison to try to find out what made them so ruthless when their doubles on Earth Prime were so kind-hearted, but Don and Liz refuse to see any visitors. That includes their son Wade�that�s right, son Wade; on this world Wade was born a male but was still given the same name, and when the guards went to get the Wells to bring them to the visitors room, they must have assumed the Wade that had come to visit them was their son.

Curious, Wade tracks down her male counterpart and goes to visit him. She introduces herself as a former business associate of his parents and engages him in conversation. Male-Wade (played by Sabrina Lloyd�s former Sports Night co-star, Josh Molina), though he hasn�t spoken with his parents in over seven years, has become the reluctant heir to his parents� company, the very company which drove the wedge between him and his parents in the first place. You see, after founding Omnisoft, male-Wade�s parents had become obsessed with making the company successful and had been engaging in unethical business practices for well over a decade. Male-Wade had eventually learned of their behavior and immediately objected to it, leading to their strained relationship. So now he�s reluctant to become head of the company. Female-Wade sympathizes with him, but rather than agreeing with him about his not taking over leadership of Omnisoft, she convinces him that because he was able to recognize what his parents were doing wrong, he is the perfect person to change Omnisoft into the positively-operated company it should be.

Rembrandt and Logan take a trip to the moon. They get there by hyper-shuttle, so the trip takes only an hour. Once there, they enjoy a stay at Selene�s Sanctuary�a luxury resort named after the ancient Roman moon goddess�compliments of MalTec (in other words, all expenses paid). They each delight in their own way in the services and conveniences of this world�s�and this resort�s�advanced technology. Remmy and Logan have at this point in the season pretty much put their past differences (such as the �Doublecross� and �And Everything to Gain� incidents) behind them and have actually become good friends. Their friendship is sort of a mixture of Remmy�s relationship with Quinn and Maggie put together into a singularly unique relationship all its own.

When their four days here are up, the vacationing Sliders (Remmy, Logan, and Wade) return to Mallory Mansion. With about an hour remaining before the slide, the Mallorys and four of the five Sliders (Arturo is still absent) convene in the main foyer of the Mallory Mansion and begin to bid their respective farewells. Colin had briefly considered staying, but he knows he must continue his search for his Quinn and all the lost sliders. His parents give to him as a parting gift a device that they call a �tracer.� The tracer can be used to detect his still-long-lost brother�s quantum signature for a radius of up to four thousand miles; Colin can use it to try and locate his brother on every parallel earth they slide into.

Moments after that presentation is made, the Professor arrives along with Dr. Geiger and makes the startling announcement that he and Geiger may have a plan that could put an end to the problem with the KroMaggs�permanently.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .
(in "Heart of Darkness")