| End of the Road, part 3 by IamBoris |
| The next day, in a grand suite at the Dominion Hotel, everyone gets caught up on old times, what happened while they were separated, and so on. (Author�s Note: Basically, it�s the cheesy-yet-touching-and-heartwarming clip show we�d hoped to avoid, but it only takes up about a half hour out of the three-hour finale, so don�t despair too much.) Once the reminiscing is done, it comes time to make some decisions about the future. First of all, Wade proposes to Quinn. He accepts without hesitation, finally realizing that they were meant to be together. Being trapped in Mallory�s body for almost two years had given Quinn a lot of time to just think about things he�d done and the mistakes he�d made along the way, and he had realized months ago that denying his feelings for Wade had been one of the things he had most regretted about this whole trip, especially once she was ripped away from him by the KroMaggs. As for Wade, she�d been through far too much in the past three years to play anymore little games; she loves him, and there�s no point in trying to deny it. Her love for him was part of what gave her the strength to get through the whole ordeal with the KroMaggs, and she had to let him know that, even if he hadn�t still felt any romantic feelings for her. Fortunately, he had. Quinn and Wade will begin a new life together while simultaneously trying to salvage what they can of their old lives, for they will obviously be returning to Earth Prime. Wade plans on writing an autobiography about her experiences sliding, selling the story to a major publisher, and then using the money she makes off of that to just retire; she�s had more than enough adventure and experience in the real world(s) and would like to take it easy for a while. Quinn isn�t sure what he�ll do when he gets back; whatever it is, it�ll be less stressful than sliding. Maybe he�ll follow in Arturo�s footsteps and become a teacher; and maybe he�ll work on trying to perfect sliding�this time, in the safety of a lab. The Professor and Rembrandt also obviously decide to return to Earth Prime. The Professor plans on trying to go back to what he does best: teaching (hopefully, he can get his old job at U-Cal back�again). Rembrandt will be getting back to singing but will start off slowly, taking time to rest-up and recover from all that he�s been through. He�ll probably work on writing and recording some new songs for a while before he goes off on any kind of tour. Maggie gives Quinn & Wade her blessing on their engagement. She and Quinn may have shared a lifetime together in that bubble universe in �Roads Taken,� but that was a different life and a different set of circumstances; she�s long since accepted that, in this timeline, she and Quinn are just not destined to be anything more than the closest of friends. As for her future, Maggie will be settling on Earth Prime as well. She has no homeworld anymore, and she suspects that the colony established on New World by her fellow military intelligence officers (in �The Exodus, part 2�) will continue to do fine without her. Besides, they now have more than three years of experience in dealing with dinosaurs and she doesn�t, so she wouldn�t be much help anyway. She�s considering either re-joining the military, becoming a police officer, or teaching a self-defense course. Colin and Mallory decide to head for Home World. Neither of them were exactly popular people back home. They didn�t have any family, and most people that knew them disliked them. For instance, most of Colin�s village thought he was performing the devil�s work, and the one woman who liked him had a family that hated him, so he wasn�t going to be missed. Mallory, for his part, had become bitter and despondent during his time in his wheelchair, so he had lost most of his friends years ago, and those that he�d kept through all that, he�d later managed to piss off when he abandoned them and San Francisco in favor of a position at Geiger Applied Research in LA, so he wasn�t going to be missed either (except by Dianna). Dianna decides to return to her home dimension and attempt to resume the life she left behind. It won�t be easy, considering the fact that she�s probably suspected of murdering Geiger, that she hasn�t seen or spoken to anyone in two years, and that she�ll will have to be held responsible for her actions as Dr. Geiger�s assistant, but she�s become quite resourceful over the past two years; she�ll figure out some way to make things work. And maybe, in the end, she�ll get that Nobel Prize she�s worked so hard for. Dianna�s homeworld will be the next stop all of the Sliders make, for they will drop off Dianna before proceeding to Earth Prime. At Earth Prime, they�ll drop off Quinn, the Professor, Wade, Rembrandt, and Maggie. Then (using the coordinates provided for them in �Associations�), Colin and Mallory will be dropped off on Home World. Once that is done, Bennish, Logan, Helen, and Tenaren will all continue sliding in search of new adventures. As the timer counts down the final moments of their long odyssey, the Sliders gather together in hopeful anticipation. The timer at last reaches zero, a vortex is opened, and they all jump in. Six long years of sliding are finally over; they�ve finally reached the end of the road. [Fade to black.] Epilogue: Two Years Later On Earth Prime, Quinn, Arturo, Wade, and Rembrandt are sitting next to each other in a movie theatre, engaging in idle conversation. The lights are still on, and they�re waiting for a movie to start. All around them are the familiar faces from home that they periodically encountered on their travels�people who reminded them of home. Among those people are Linda Mallory, Nathan Arturo, Don & Liz Wells, Kelly Wells, C�zanne Brown, Hilton & Charlotte Brown, Alesha Avo, Kyle Wing, Nan Zachery, Jake Zachery, Crazy Kenny Forrester, Mace Moon, Michael Hurley, Artie Field, Ross J. Kelly, Pavel Kurlienko, Daelin Richards, and even Shrodinger. After the camera�s panned through all these faces, the lights go down, the conversations stop, and a movie begins. The movie is called Sliders. According to the credits, it is based on Spin Around the Universe: Diary of a Slider by Wade Wells�Wade�s published diary. The movie stars Justin Whalin as Ian O�Malley, the young inventor of sliding; Sean Connery as Ian�s mentor, Professor Archibald T. Reese; Winnona Ryder as Ian�s friend and co-worker, Drew Dunne; and Ernie Hudson as R&B singer, Rhadamanthus �Soul Man� Black (a.k.a. Manny). The names of our heroes have been changed not to protect the innocent but to allow movie-goers to realize that the events portrayed in the movie were exaggerated versions what actually happened; it didn�t say �based on a true story� for nothing. The movie begins with Manny lying down in a psychiatrist's (played by Kelsey Grammar) office and beginning to tell his tale. The movie is presented as a flashback with Manny as narrator, telling the story of sliding to his shrink. We see a condensed version of the film (only a few minutes long), and fans will recognize slight variations on famous scenes from throughout the series (many of which were shown as part of the flashback portion of this episode; that was no mistake, of course). The last scenes we see are back in the present. The other three sliders burst into the shrink�s office, and they and Manny slide out because their time on this world is up. Final scene: The shrink has spoken to fellow shrinks of what Manny told him and what he saw himself at the end of Manny�s session, and we now see him lying in a mental ward in a straight jacket, saying, �They called it �sliding,� a name charming in its simplicity, but wholly inadequate to describe the wonder of it all�� (This entire ending, of course is an homage to �Post-Traumatic Slide Syndrome,� as is the entire session-with-a-shrink backdrop). The movie fades to black, the credits begin to roll. Back in the movie theatre, the lights come up. Our sliders and all their families and friends are applauding wildly. The Sliders have tears of joy in their eyes. And we fade to black. T H E E N D |
| Sliders is owned by, or is a trademark of, Universal Television, St. Clare Entertainment, the Sci-Fi Channel, & Studios USA. It was created by Tracy Torm� and Robert K. Weiss. I am using the title and characters without permission but am making no profit from doing so; so for the love of all things holy, don�t sue me! That having been said, this particular story was written by me, so please ask me before posting it anywhere else, and give me credit if you do. |
 |
|