President Bennish relaxed in his office at the White House. He lay back on his chair, his feet resting comfortably on the polished desk. Suddenly, his daydreams were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Yeah?"
His assistant, Humphries, walked in. "This report just arrived, sir." He handed him a piece of paper.
"Later, dude," said Bennish, placing the paper on the desk. "I'm thinking."
"This matter will be of some interest to you, sir."
"Oh, OK. Sure." Bennish picked up the piece of paper and scanned through it. "Cool," he said as he finished. "So Max is mine now?"
"That he is, sir."
"Excellent."
Wade struggled to climb in through the window of their hotel room. Despite her size, it was a tight fit, and having jumped from the fire escape, she had little choice but to succeed. She reminded herself several times not to look down. She wasn't afraid of heights, but that was asking for trouble. Once she had her head and shoulders through, she could see Quinn sleeping with the phone clutched tightly to his chest. He looked so peaceful that despite his obvious concern for them, she really didn't want to wake him yet. So she tried to climb in quietly. Unfortunately her trailing foot caught on the windowsill and she tumbled into the room suddenly, waking Quinn.
"Uh?" Quinn squinted into the room, replacing the phone. As his eyes focused, he saw Wade scrambling up off the floor. "Wade! How could you do that to me? I was so worried. Why didn't you leave me a message so I'd know you were all right?" Although he was pleased to see her, Quinn felt irrationally cross with her. Then he noticed the state of her. Her left eye was swollen and bruised, and she had a slight cut to her eyebrow. He helped her up, then sat on the bed beside her. "What happened?" he asked more calmly.
Wade swallowed, "I don't know exactly, it all happened so fast." She began to shiver slightly.
"Shh, it's OK now." Quinn put his arm round her, trying to calm her down. "Start at the beginning."
"We were just walking back here, from the library. It couldn't have been much after 5. We discovered this is asteroid world, and Bennish is President, and.."
Quinn put a hand on her shoulder. "Quietly, slow down."
Wade nodded. "We were walking back here and a gang of thugs just attacked us. They just came out of nowhere and pounced on us. One of them punched me, and well, that's it. I don't remember anything else. When I woke up it was dark, and Max had gone.
"When was that?" asked Quinn gently.
"A few hours ago. It took me a while to figure out where I was, and there were all those creepy soldiers."
"Yeah, I met one of those at the front door," concurred Quinn. "There was one at the window when I looked out too," he added.
"Yeah, I had to wait ages for him to move, I thought he was going to stay there forever." Wade smiled in relief, feeling much better already.
Quinn lay back a little. He too felt better, despite the news of Max's capture. If he wasn't totally alone he was sure he could deal with it. "Come on, we should get some sleep. I've got to work tomorrow."
"What about Max? We can't just leave him," protested Wade.
"We can't deal with it now, Wade. Tomorrow. Go to sleep."
"Mmm. I am feeling rather sleepy," she yawned. "'Night, Quinn."
"'Night," Quinn smiled.
Max squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was moving along a
bumpy road, the jolts told him that much, but where he was going and why was a
mystery. A sudden pain in his head reminded him of their encounter with
the thugs in the street. He wondered what had happened to Wade. As
his vision became clearer, he saw that two of their attackers sat with him in
the vehicle. Groaning, he tried to straighten, and discovered that his
hands were chained together.
"Would you kindly explain what I'm doing here," spluttered Max.
The two men ignored him completely.
"Blistering idiots," he grumbled, turning his attention back to the ride.
He was in some sort of van, obviously intended for the transport of prisoners. Which was strange, he thought, because that implied that these thugs were somehow official, and that he was wanted for some reason. Max found the puzzle intriguing, but he was no closer to a solution when the van stopped and he was hauled out by two of the gang.
"Where are you taking me? I have done nothing to you!" he shouted at them, producing a few sniggers which only served to further confuse him.
Presently, a man in uniform came out to meet him. "Ah, Maximillian Arturo. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you."
Max smiled graciously, hoping against hope that the man was sincere.
"I know the nation will now rest easy knowing that you are behind bars."
"What! What do you accuse me of? You can't do this! I have done nothing, sir. Nothing! Blistering idiots."
The men led him through a large jail, full of the most unlikely looking criminals. As Max looked around, his heart sank like a stone. These people were clearly political prisoners, not common criminals. This country was obviously in more trouble than he had initially realised, and in his current situation he saw little prospect of rectifying it.
The prison guards led him through the prison, past all those unfortunate enough to disagree with the current government. In the final row of cells before he went into the solitary wing, Max saw Quinn. His initial optimism of escape sank further still. Without any input from himself or Quinn the chances of the others getting them out dropped radically. But he decided to keep up hope, the others were by no means stupid, and they had in the past pulled off a number of miraculous escapes, he had heard some incredible tales. He wished he could remember a few for reassurance, but none would come to mind. "Mr Mallory!" he called to Quinn.
Max couldn't be sure, as he was roughly shoved into his cell in solitary before he had time to see properly, but it seemed as though Quinn was for some reason refusing to acknowledge him. Strange.
Maggie frantically scoured the documents left in her double's quarters. There were a huge number of reports on missions, particularly missions to the UK, where Bennish claimed any resistance to his regime might come from. From what she could gather, she had spent a large amount of time fabricating evidence to support his claims. She was a high ranking officer in the military, and apparently she was on Bennish's side. Once again she was Rickman's right hand. Maggie groaned, she still had to work out which way she was supposed to report to Rickman, even assuming that her latest mission was to the UK, although that seemed very probable. She came to the rapid conclusion that her best approach at this moment would be to write Rickman a fabricated report. Odd though the concept seemed, that was obviously the way things were run, and Maggie had only found one report which suggested anything other than what the general public knew of Britain. Buried deep in the files of obvious propaganda, and fabricated reports, lay a single note.
After reading all of the obvious forgeries, Maggie was relieved to discover even a tiny piece of the truth. She wondered how anyone could possibly believe the rubbish her double, and others like her, were writing, it seemed so clear to her, but she knew she could only see it because she shared so many similarities with her double. A worrying thought, and one Maggie did her best not to linger on. She turned her thoughts back to the note. It was very brief, yet simply from the way it was written she could see that it was the truth. There was no attempt to reclaim the old British colonies, no insane government in London. The danger was here, in the US, in Bennish and his cronies, which would apparently include her double. Maggie began to work on a plan, surely in her current position there would be something she could do which might help alleviate the situation. Perhaps she could file a truthful report with Rickman.....
After careful consideration, Maggie dismissed the idea as far too dangerous. She could plan, certainly, and she had ever intention of doing something, but for the moment she had to maintain her cover. Her time would come, she knew it.
Rickman was already sat at his desk when she delivered the report to him. He motioned her to sit down, and she was forced to wait as he read it. Her heart beat so loudly that she was sure someone else should've heard it and realised that something was wrong. And Rickman seemed to read so slowly, taking in every detail.
"Maggie," he began.
"Sir?"
"This reads well, but I see nothing in here that would warrant your returning early. We do need some accurate intelligence, Captain."
"Yes, sir," said Maggie, confused as to which version of the facts qualified as accurate intelligence.
"I expect you to be returning to Britain shortly." Rickman leaned back in his chair. "And returning with some more insightful comments?"
Maggie saluted, realising that she was dismissed. As she exited the office, she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. That had been too close.
"Hey, guys. I'm home," called Remmy cheerily. Initially there was no response, then Quinn staggered out bleary eyed.
"Hmm?" asked Quinn incoherently.
"Man, I thought I was up late. What were you up to last night?" chuckled Remmy.
"Remmy," Quinn patted him on the back as they entered the room, "you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Go on then, don't keep me in suspense. What happened? Where's Wade and Max? Where's Maggie for that matter?"
Quinn sighed and sat heavily on the bed. "Wade's sleeping." He waved his arm in the direction of a small mound in a bed in the corner. "And Max's gone. I think Maggie's still caught up with the military."
"Max's gone? What do you mean, gone? Where?"
"We don't know. Some guys ambushed him and Wade. She was out cold while he disappeared completely." Quinn rested his head in his hands, dejected.
"She OK?" Remmy glanced again at the sleeping form of Wade.
"I think so. She was a bit shaken, but otherwise OK." Quinn smiled slightly, a little shaken by his own experiences the previous evening.
Inwardly, Remmy groaned. Something always seemed to go wrong before they had chance to avoid it. "Oh man, why does this always happen to us?"
"Well in this case, I think we brought it on ourselves. We're the cause," Quinn sighed. "Max's one of America's most wanted, and there's a huge reward for anyone who finds him."
"Oh no. The dude with the bomb?"
"Yeah."
"Where do you think they've taken him?" asked Remmy, getting more alarmed by the minute.
"I don't know, I really don't know." Quinn shook his head in frustration. "We've got six weeks on this world, and we get into trouble within one day."
Remmy put his hand on Quinn's shoulder, trying to reassure him. "You'll think of a way to find him. You always do."
"Thanks, man," smiled Quinn.
"I'll see what I can find out, but in the meantime, I may have found me a nice cushy little job," beamed Remmy.
"Oh yeah?"
"Caroline thinks she may be able to get me a job as a security guard. Sounds pretty good too, not too strenuous, low risk with this curfew thing." Remmy went on.
"Caroline?" Quinn raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, she was." Remmy trailed off, ". I gotta go now. I'll explain later."
Remmy shot out of the room again, leaving Quinn alone once more. He glanced at Wade, but she was still fast asleep and he didn't have the heart to wake her. So instead, Quinn reluctantly switched the TV back on, bracing himself. He found a news channel and sat on the foot of the bed, trying to digest the implications of their interference 3 years ago, and find any clues which might enable them to save Max.
"Today's main news. The final capture of Max. The fugitive known as Professor Maximillian Arturo was captured last night by elite members of the secret police. Here, exclusively on the news channel, we have an interview recorded earlier with the librarian who made the call leading to Max's capture. She is now the country's newest millionaire."
"So, Mrs Roberts. How did you find Max? The man who the entire country has been looking for for 3 years."
"Well, I was sat at my desk, when this mad man started shouting in the library. Anyone would have noticed, and once I realised who he was I had to do my patriotic duty and call the authorities."
"What're you going to do with the money?"
"Oh, I won't let it change my life."
". How could anyone do something like that?" demanded Wade, creeping up behind Quinn.
Quinn turned, startled. "It's understandable, look at the information they've been force fed."
"I don't know, I still don't see how someone could just sell out me and Max," continued Wade.
"Well they think he's a dangerous criminal, Wade. And look at the reward that woman gets. You can see why someone'd go along with something like that. How would they know not to believe it?" Quinn argued.
"They."
".wait a second. It's Bennish," interrupted Quinn.
"Hello America," said Bennish into the microphone in front of hundreds of reporters. He bowed and waved a few times before beginning his speech. "Today I want to announce the capture of Max." He was interrupted by thunderous applause. ". the biggest threat to our way of life since the destruction of 2956 Yeoman." More applause. "So now everyone can sleep soundly again. I did it! I saved the country." Bennish waved his arms about and began to get excited, faced by such a large crowd. It was obvious he had departed from his prepared speech. He threw his right arm in the air and to the cheers of his crowd yelled, "the streets of America are safe."
Wade groaned, "I don't believe they made him President."
"Me neither," grimaced Quinn. He switched the TV off, wanting to escape the reality of the world they had arrived on, and Max's plight, for a little while. "But anyhow, how're you this morning?" He lifted her chin so that he could look at her black eye more clearly.
"I'll live," muttered Wade. "what about Max though? What're we going to do?"
"I know it's hard, but for the moment I think we should gather all the information we can. We've got 6 weeks before the slide, so even if we could find Max and break him out now, we'd never be able to hide him for so long." Quinn replied rationally.
"How can we leave him like that?" asked Wade.
"Wade, we're going to have to. Just for a little while," said Quinn quietly.
"Maybe," agreed Wade reluctantly. "We'd better start gathering information then."
"Wade, try not to attract any attention to yourself. They might be watching you now," suggested Quinn.
Wade touched her eye, "and they made me nicely distinctive too." She sighed, "OK, you and Remmy can hunt today. I'll lie low 'til tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Wade." objected Quinn.
"Tomorrow, Quinn. I'll be careful." Wade folded her arms and looked at him, giving him a clear view of her bruised face.
Quinn looked down from her, glancing at his watch. "I have to go work now," he told her, looking her in the eye as if to say - 'please don't get into trouble.' "I got a job as a waiter." That earned a small smile from Wade, but she wasn't keen on the prospect of sitting alone in the hotel room, a virtual prisoner while the others did the work. "Please be careful," whispered Quinn as he exited the room.
Wade sighed, she didn't know how she was going to keep her promise to Quinn. But she had said she would stay, so stay she must. She flicked the TV back on.
Within five minutes of Quinn's departure, Wade was bored. The TV on this world was even more mindless than normal. After 5 minutes of exposure she was desperate to go out, to run off, to risk getting in trouble. 'Maybe that's why the TV's like that,' she thought, 'to persuade everyone to make trouble, and therefore find potential troublemakers more quickly.' Wade laughed to herself, that idea seemed a little ridiculous. Switching the TV off, she sat for several minutes contemplating precisely what to do to occupy herself.
She toyed with the idea of going out, despite her promise to Quinn, but seeing her reflection in the TV screen, she knew that Quinn was right. With her huge black eye, she was far too noticeable. She would have to wait. On the other hand, she couldn't bear the thought of simply doing nothing while Max was in serious trouble. Wade braced herself and turned the TV back on, hoping to be able to read between the lines.
"Dave? Hey Dave!" Caroline's boss called over the white haired security guard. "Can you show Mr Brown around. He's just got here, thought he might make you a good partner."
"Sure," smiled Dave amicably.
"Rembrandt Brown," Remmy held out his hand.
"Dave Dawson," Dave shook it firmly. "So you're just startin' out here, huh? Well, just follow me, you'll be fine." Dave started to shuffle down the corridor. "Well, come on then, Rembrandt," he called.
Remmy followed him, amused. The security of the building must have a fairly low priority if this guy was still on active duty, he figured. Fortunately, they didn't seem to expect him and Dave to walk up and down the stairs of the 20 storey office building. Instead, they could use the lift and monitor the security cameras between patrols. It was all pretty simple, Remmy was sure he could handle it. As Dave shuffled along the main corridor, Remmy wandered behind him, singing softly to himself.
Dave chuckled, "so you like singing, huh Rembrandt?"
"Sure do," replied Remmy, still humming.
"So long as it ain't so bad we don't hear the sirens," chuckled Dave. "Now, where did I put my glasses?" asked Dave, patting his pockets.
Remmy tried not to laugh, but he couldn't resist a smile. "Your head," he pointed.
"Ah yes, now where were we? Fire drill, there we go. You'll need to know that." Dave peered at the noticeboard until he found the appropriate sign. "There," he said, satisfied.
Remmy was just starting to read through the notice, when Caroline came past. "Hi there, young lady," called Dave.
"Hi Dave. How're you? What do you think of your new recruit?"
"Ah, so he's yours is he?" smiled Dave.
Caroline laughed, "more his own than mine, I suspect."
Remmy grinned back, "morning."
Caroline smiled, "morning, Rembrandt." Then she was on her way again.
"Lovely girl that," commented Dave.
"That she is," agreed Remmy, a huge smile creeping across his face.
They stood in silence, staring after Caroline, for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Then Dave returned to his senses abruptly. "Well, where were we? Ah, I think that's about it for the tour. Time to go and see Evelyn, find out when we're on." Dave began to shuffle again, so Remmy followed him.
"Hi, Evelyn. How're you?" Dave asked as he shuffled up to the reception desk.
"What do you want, Dave?" she asked, sounding slightly irritated.
"Just want to know when me and Rembrandt here are next on," replied Dave calmly.
"Oh. Well you'll have to wait a minute."
"That's fine," injected Remmy quickly. "We've got all the time in the world."
"You have, have you? Maybe I should get you to help me here then," scowled Evelyn.
Dave and Remmy were stood at Evelyn's desk for almost 15 minutes before she got round to sorting them out. In that time Remmy quietly watched all the people bustling about. He wondered if it was possible to tell which ones were in favour of Bennish's regime, and which weren't. It would be useful to find a few potential allies, and he didn't want to waste his time simply because of a grumpy secretary. So he spent his time trying to distinguish the supporters from the objectors, listening in to snatches of conversation as they went by, or simply watching them. Despite their inbuilt need for caution, he was fairly sure that from his relatively objective point of view, he could see at least one or two who actively opposed the government. On the other hand, it left him alarmed at just how many people seemed not to care at all.
During the afternoon, Maggie saw another opportunity to call the others. Wade answered, relieved to have something to do other than avoid watching the TV.
"Maggie, where are you?" asked Wade. "Max got taken by Bennish."
"Well I'll worry about that later," replied Maggie, "right now I'm on another mission."
"What's that, Maggie?" asked Wade, a little exasperated.
"I can't explain right now, Wade. You'll just have to believe me. Look, just be careful of the military. They're screwing the whole country. We're talking serious conspiracy. Forget abiding by the law, they can make anything up. And you can bet Max's double didn't do anything."
"Maggie." began Wade.
". I gotta go," said Maggie hurriedly, slamming the phone down.
Wade sighed, even more frustrated. She wished someone would tell her what was going on.
"Come on, guys," called Remmy. "Caroline says you're welcome to stay with her too, she'd like the company. We can leave a message at the desk in case Maggie calls."
"Maggie called just," said Wade, remembering.
"So who is this Caroline then, Remmy?" asked Quinn.
Remmy grinned smugly, "a friend I made last time I was here, unlike the rest of you."
"We were a little busy," laughed Quinn, remembering their last visit to this Earth.
"I'd say you and Max managed to make some lifelong enemies. Why does that not surprise me?"
Quinn shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess," he replied glibly.
"Come on, guys. Can't stand here all day. I don't think I want to get caught out after curfew again." Wade tried to encourage them to get moving.
"Sure, Wade," replied Quinn, finally grabbing his coat and stepping out of the door behind her.
"Comin' girl. Have patience," called Remmy, shooting out behind Quinn.
They caught a cab to Caroline's house, where she greeted them warmly. She was glad to have some company for a while. Since her husband had left and the curfews had started, things had been far too quiet. They entered the house to discover the smell of food waiting for them, and soon the four of them were tucking into a delicious home-made meal.
Once the introductions were all over, and Remmy had finally explained a little about how he and Caroline had first met, then table grew silent. All that could be heard was the sound of them eating contentedly.
A little uncomfortable with Quinn and Wade, Caroline decided to strike up conversation. "Rembrandt tells me that you lost a friend of yours," Caroline remarked to Quinn.
"Yeah," said Quinn, "there was a gang of thugs, and then suddenly he'd disappeared."
"Is that how you were injured, Wade?" asked Caroline.
"Yeah, they just jumped on us," replied Wade.
"Well, if there's anything I can do to help you out. I do have a few contacts, they may be able to help," offered Caroline. "Provided he hasn't done anything illegal," she added.
"He hasn't," jumped in Wade quickly.
"We only just got here. He never had chance," said Remmy.
"Fair enough. Well, let's just relax for the evening, and tomorrow I'll have a poke around, see if anyone knows anything. I'm sure your friend will be fine." Caroline tried to reassure the Sliders. "What's his full name, by the way?"
The Sliders glanced at one another. "Professor Maximillian Arturo," said Remmy.
Caroline nearly choked on her wine. "Max?" She turned to eye Quinn suspiciously, "and you're called Quinn? Oh my God!"
"Huh? What's the big deal? I thought you knew," exclaimed Remmy, surprised by her reaction. He had been sure she was on the level.
"I never knew that you wanted to break out Max! How can you even consider such a thing? All those monstrosities."
"It's not true," argued Wade.
"We only just got here, remember," urged Quinn.
"And why would I believe you, Quinn Mallory? Or a girl who I've never met, who turns up with you and Max? Rembrandt?"
"You can believe me. You know you can," soothed Remmy. "They're telling you the truth, and you know I'm OK. You have to trust us. Can you tell us who might be able to help us?"
Caroline took a long sip of her wine, then set her glass down, looking each of them in the eye. She didn't know Rembrandt well, could he have joined the secret police? She wondered. But she had met secret police before, he really wasn't the type. Still, she was unsure how to react, whether to trust them.
For the Sliders that moment took an eternity. They had laid far too many cards on the table. They didn't know how this woman was going to react. Remmy quietly kicked himself for not being paranoid enough in a society where paranoia had become a survival trait, and Quinn wished he'd listened to his instincts and not gone along with Remmy's suggestion that they stay with Caroline. After the previous night's trouble he kicked himself for not being more cautious.
Finally, Caroline spoke. "I'll see what I can find out. No promises though, Max is way too high profile to even ask questions about, to be honest. You should be more careful." Before the others had chance to speak, Caroline stood up. "I'm tired anyway, I'm off to bed. Goodnight."
They watched her go in silence, then finally each one of them breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"She seems a little uptight, Remmy," commented Wade.
"I guess I would be too if I lived in a place like this," replied Remmy. "These years have certainly changed her."
"We better tread a bit more carefully in the future," suggested Quinn, seriously.
"I..." Wade trailed off as she saw Caroline approach. Caroline looked far more relaxed.
"Well, Rembrandt. You coming?" she asked him teasingly.
Remmy's eyes lit up. "You bet. I'll be right there."
Caroline smiled graciously. "There are a couple of rooms made up upstairs and to the right." She gestured towards the stairs for Quinn and Wade.
"Thanks," said Wade.
Quinn nodded gratefully. He needed a good night's sleep.
Quinn and Wade quietly cleared the dishes, then they too went upstairs for some much needed rest. Even though it was early, Wade fell asleep quickly, but Quinn lay awake for sometime in his room, unable to sleep.
As he finally began to drift off to sleep, Quinn was disturbed by a noise. Curious, he crept to the door of his room and peered out. Initially he couldn't see anything, but then he made out a shadowy figure walking silently down the stairs. Intrigued, he followed a little, praying he wouldn't make any noise and alert them, even if it was only Wade or Rembrandt. He wanted to be sure first.
Suddenly the lights downstairs were switched on. Quinn's heart leapt, he could so easily have been spotted. But at least he managed to get a good look at the mysterious figure. It was Caroline. Quinn crouched on the stairs, peering over the handrail to watch as Caroline picked up the phone and dialled frantically.
Quinn couldn't really hear what she said, she spoke too quietly. But he
was sure he heard a name. It was his own.
On to part 3