Roswell Fanatics

Author: Island Breeze
Rating: TEEN or YTEEN (about like the show)
Forum: CC with some Crossover
Pairings: M/L, M/M, A/I, ALL, + Sliders briefly
The Cast: Sliding Into Antar is first and foremost a Roswell fic, but the Sliders appear briefly twice during the story.

Roswell is the creation of Melinda Metz, who wrote the books, and Jason Katims, who brought us the TV series. They are responsible for the show’s concept and characters and for any events that occurred during the TV series that might be mentioned here.

Sliders is the creation of Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weiss. Its characters just happen to cross paths with our Roswell heroes in this story. You’ll see what I mean. For better or worse, any other elements in this story, including storyline and additional characters that were not in the show, are my own vision and creation. To Melinda, Jason, Tracy, and Robert, a huge thanks for giving us two of the best shows that ever came to television.

Some background is desirable for understanding this story…

Sliding Into Antar is the 6th book of the Altered Time Series, which began with Destiny In The Stars. In Destiny In The Stars, Max and Michael escaped to Antar after Kivar destroyed the earth while trying to kill them. Almost every human, including Liz and Maria, died in the end of the world (One human did survive and escaped with Max and Michael to Antar, but you’ll have to read Altered Time - Destiny In The Stars to find out who it was ). Max and Michael changed what happened to the earth… and to Liz and Maria… by going back in time six years later and changing the past. After that, they all lived on Antar together and had children and lots of adventures, which are detailed in the other books of the Altered Time series. One of those adventures (The Night The Dreams Died) took them into an alternate dimension to save Liz’s younger double there after she came to them in a vision asking for help. But when they got ready to leave that dimension and return home, things went awry… big time! So that’s it. That’s the background… as much of it, at least, as I’ll tell.

Chronologically, Sliding Into Antar takes place right after The Night The Dreams Died and right before Chapter 67 (Out Of A Nightmare) of The Four Faces Of Rath. It is certainly possible to enjoy this story even if you have never read any of the other stories of this series. But… then you may want to know what came before it and after it.

Happy reading!

<center>SLIDING INTO ANTAR</center>


>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Crash

Chapter 1

I
>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Can't touch this!
Can't touch this!
My my my my music hits me so hard
Makes me say Oh my Lord
Thank you for blessing me with a mind to rhyme
And two hyped feet
Feels good when you know you're down…
Can't touch this
Look man u can't touch this
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh…

Liz finally totally lost it, dissolving into hysterical laughter, and Maria actually snorted the Snapples she was sipping, as they watched Max and Kyle perform their rousing duo version of the MC Hammer hit while offering up a their best spirited rendition of Hammer’s dance style.

Michael leaned back in his co-pilot’s chair and closed his eyes, a smile on his face. After six weeks on a rescue mission in an alternate dimension, they were finally going home… The very thought made everyone smile; and the truth is, everyone was feeling a little giddy…

Maybe some more than others…

Can't touch this! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Stop!
Hammer time!
Oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh… Stop!
Hammer time!
Can't touch this!

“Don’t you guys know anything by Metallica?” Michael asked, shaking his head.

Max and Kyle stopped dancing…

“Well… what would you like to hear,” asked Kyle.

“How about… Nothing Else Matters?”

“Don’t know it.”

“Okay, then, how about… Enter Sandman?”

“How does it go?”

Michael shook his head and sighed…

Hush little baby, don’t say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It’s just the beast under your bed,
In your closet, in your head

Exit light, Enter night
Grain of sand

Exit light, Enter night
Take my hand
We’re off to never-never land.

“Oh yeah. I heard that before. How does the other one go,” Kyle asked.

Michael picked up two long wooden pointers and started to pound out a drumbeat on the console in front of him…

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
No nothing else matters…

Michael stopped, and Liz, Tess, and Maria applauded.

“That was good, Michael,” Tess encouraged… “Sing some more!”

Michael grinned and shook his head. “I can’t sing. Let Max and Kyle entertain you. They’re enjoying themselves.” As if to punctuate his remark, Michael rapped, “Can’t touch this! Can‘t touch this!” and Liz and Maria dissolved into hysterics all over again.

“Well, it wasn’t all that funny,” Kyle said.

Tess nodded, sniffling… “It was, Kyle. Trust me. It was!”

Ever since the Antarian mothership, the New Granolith, left Antar in Dimension Y, there had been an almost party-like atmosphere onboard. The work and the worries were over. The rescue had been a total and unqualified success. With nothing to do now but relax and enjoy the ride home, normally restrained personalities gave way to personalities rarely seen in other times, as inhibitions disappeared and everyone seemed to just enjoy the moment.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it all changed.

Michael leaned back in his seat, and the girls were coaxing Max and Kyle to dance again, when the ship suddenly lurched violently and veered sharply off its trajectory. This sent Max and Kyle sprawling to the floor, along with Liz, Maria, and Tess. Thrown almost completely out of his seat, Michael rolled back quickly and raised the seat to its upright position, then he looked out the huge fore window of the New Granolith…

“What the frikkin’ galaxies was that? Did we hit something?”

Max was already beside him in the pilot’s seat. The party atmosphere that had prevailed only moments before was gone. A few seconds later, Varec, Max’s chief science officer and Antar’s most revered scientist, ran into the room and stood beside Max and Michael. He was followed by Alex and Isabel, who had been in the arboretum.

As they searched the void of space outside the ship for any evidence of what had happened, Max noticed that the air in the control room seemed to be thinning, as though it were being sucked out of the room. What happened next was so unexpected that no one had a chance to do anything but stand there, speechless. A large vortex opened up… inside the ship… right there on the bridge. Immediately, the air that had just been sucked out of the room poured back in through the vortex… and something else came with it. First, a girl fell out, then, a young man. He was followed by an older man and another man.

Max and Michael had the four covered before they even got up or knew what had happened to them.

“Who are you,” Michael asked, holding the palm of his hand out, prepared to defend himself and the ship. “What was that… thing… you came out of?”

The four newcomers looked around with a clearly puzzled look, as though they were trying to figure out the answers to the same questions themselves. The younger man stood up then helped the girl and the older man up, as the third man brushed himself off and checked to make sure that he still had everything he should have… two arms, two legs… hands… fingers. He seemed satisfied. Then he gazed out the window at the stars drifting by in the void of space…

“Uh, Cue Ball, you’d better look at this. That’s not San Francisco out there, man. Where are we?”

The younger man looked down at a remote control type device in his hand then looked out the ship’s window. “I don’t know, Rem. If I had to guess, I’d say the timer had a malfunction.”

“A malfunction!” the other man exclaimed. “That’s like saying that the Pacific Ocean is just a fish pond!” He gazed out the window again.

“What do we do now, Quinn,” the girl asked, putting one hand on the young man’s arm.

“Yes, that WOULD appear to be the question, wouldn’t it,” the older man said with a vaguely British-like accent. Then he walked over and stood facing Max and Michael…

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Maximillian Arturo, at your service. My colleagues are Miss Wade Welles, Mister Rembrandt Brown, and Mister Quinn Mallory.”

“Another Maximillian?” Kyle mused. “Can I stand it?”

“I’m ‘Crying Man,’” the first man said.

“Well… two Maxes isn’t that bad,” Kyle mumbled apologetically.

“No… I mean, I’m Rembrandt ‘Crying Man’ Brown.”

“Oh.” Kyle nodded.

“Remmy is a singer,” the girl said. “He had a group called ‘The Spinning Tops,’ and after that, he had a solo record called ‘Topless’ that went gold. He’s good.”

The man smiled, seeming genuinely surprised by Wade’s comment. “Thanks, Wade.”

Meanwhile, Varec had been staring, fixated, at the remote control-like device in Quinn Mallory’s hand, and without announcing his intentions, he walked over and reached for it. Mallory immediately pulled his hand, and the device, back.

“I just wanted to see it,” Varec said. “I don’t want to take it from you… not permanently.”

“You can see it in my hand,” Mallory said, obviously protective of the device he had called a ‘timer.’ “It doesn’t leave my hand.”

“That must make it hard to eat… or sleep… or bathe,” Varec said.

Mallory nodded. “That’s my problem, I guess.” Then he relaxed just a bit… “I don’t hold it all the time. But I don’t let other people mess with it. It’s delicate.”

“Is that what brought you here,” Varec asked.

Max and Michael looked surprised. It hadn’t occurred to them that the small device in Mallory’s hand might have had any part in his being here; but Max and Michael knew that if Varec thought it did, there was probably something to it.

“Let me see the device,” Michael said, holding out his hand.

“Don’t even try,” Mallory warned, adopting a defensive stance.

Suddenly, with no warning, a small bolt of energy erupted from Michael’s palm, hitting Mallory on the shoulder. The device in his hand fell to the floor, and Michael had it before Mallory realized what had happened. Michael handed it to Varec.

“You think this thing had something to do with whatever’s going on here?”

Varec looked at the device carefully, as Mallory rubbed his shoulder. Mallory was clearly unhappy but decided that a direct attack on someone who could paralyze his nerves with taser-like bolts from the palm of his hand was probably a bad idea. There would be other opportunities to get the device back… if he was vigilant.

Varec took Mallory’s timer and left the control room.

“Don’t worry,” Michael said, “You’ll get it back.”

“But he doesn’t know what he has there,” Mallory said dejectedly. “He could damage it… or…”

“Or what,” Michael asked.

Quinn just shook his head.

“We’re not your enemies,” Liz said, looking at Quinn Mallory then at each of the others in turn… “We would like to help you if you let us.”

Wade looked at Mallory and nodded. “I think we should tell them, Quinn.”

Mallory sighed. “The device is a timer. It counts down the time we have left before the vortex will open again. When it does, we have to be there if we’re going to slide.”

“Slide?” Alex asked, puzzled.

Mallory nodded. “The vortex takes us to parallel words. We’re trying to find our way home… to our own world again.”

“You don’t know where it is?” Maria gasped. “Omigod, that’s so… Omigod…”

Wade smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“We’re going home, too,” Liz said. “We’ve been in an alternate dimension for the last six weeks. Fortunately, we know how to get back home, though.”

“Lucky you,” Remmy laughed, “I wish we did.”

“Maybe Varec can help you,” Maria suggested. “He’s the smartest person I know.”

“Does he know anything about the Eisen-Rosenberg bridge to other gateways,” Mallory asked.

Maria looked at him blankly… “The what?”

Mallory smiled. “I didn’t think so.”

“Quinn’s kind of a genius,” Wade said. “If he can’t figure something out, it usually can’t be done.”

“So is Varec,” Isabel said. “I’d put Varec up against Quinn anytime… or anyone else.”

“You say the device is a timer,” Max asked. “How long till it reaches zero?”

“Forty-three minutes… then we have to slide,” Quinn replied. “You see why I have to get the timer back soon.”

Max nodded. “Let’s go see Varec.”

Max led the group down the hall to Varec’s lab and placed his hand over the handprint on the wall by the door. The door slid open. Quinn looked around the room and imediately spotted Varec at his workbench. Then he saw something else, and all the color drained out of his face. On the workbench sat the timer, carefully separated into over eighty small parts of all sizes and shapes.



<center> End of chapter 1

tbc… </center>

Here is a partial list of links:


1) Altered Time: Destiny in the Stars
Updated versions are at the Boardello (Author Archives)
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthespoilerslut ... D=28.topic
and Majiklmoonsrealm (Completed Story Archives under Island Breezes).
http://p199.ezboard.com/fmajiklmoonsrea ... D=24.topic

2) Life in the Stars
Updated version is posted at the Boardello
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthespoilerslut ... 31&stop=40

3) Children of the Universe
Most recent version is posted at the Boardello
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthespoilerslut ... 81&stop=90
Also at several other sites.

4) The Night The Dreams Died
Can be found here in the Completed Works section
viewtopic.php?t=3518
and on a number of other boards, including Majiklmoonsrealm, the Boardello, and others.

5) The Four Faces of Rath
Majiklmoonsrealm (Conventional Couples),
http://p199.ezboard.com/fmajiklmoonsrea ... =141.topic
Also at The Boardello
http://p198.ezboard.com/fthespoilerslut ... =416.topic
And at Roswell Fanatics, Westwing, Roswell Nina land, and a couple of other places.

6) Departure - If I Did it My-y-y-y Way
Roswell Nina Land
http://pub15.ezboard.com/froswellninala ... D=32.topic
This was a challenge response short fic and is not part of the series that the first four are part of.

7) Buffy Goes to Antar
This is a Crossover short fic, and it's in the crossover section at several sites:
http://p080.ezboard.com/froswellninalan ... D=33.topic


8 ) Star Trails to Antar
Majiklmoonsrealm Author section or Nina Land.
http://pub15.ezboard.com/froswellninala ... D=30.topic
These are short stories taken out of the first four books above. Chapters were combined and revised to make individual short stories from different incidents and tell them in a more complete and entertaining way.

<center> Sliding Into Antar </center>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A Timer
For Disaster

Chapter 2

II
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Rembrandt Brown found Quinn Mallory sitting in the hallway of the ship, his head buried in his hands. He had all the appearance of having surrendered and given up, but Remmy knew better. Quinn was thinking… making calculations in his mind even as he sat there against the wall, his head in his hands, looking lost and dejected.

“Come on, Cue Ball… cheer up, man. What’s the worst that could happen? We miss one slide, right? So we get to spend a little time on this ship, checkin’ things out. Seems like a trade-off to me. Besides, they know where they’re going. We don’t even know where our next slide will take us. I mean, look where we wound up this time!”

Quinn Mallory took a deep breath and lifted his face from his hands momentarily.

“You don’t understand, Rem. Missing the slide screws everything up. I’ll have to recalibrate the timer to see when another vortex will open up here… if one ever will.”

“Well, I don’t know, man. You said yourself that the timer was malfunctioning. If it was workin’ right, that’d be San Francisco out there, not a bunch of stars and planets and empty space.”

Quinn nodded reluctantly. He knew that Rembrandt was right, but it was still hard to admit it.

Rembrandt held out his hand…

“Come on. Let’s go talk to E.T. and see if he can put your timer back together again.”

Back in Varec’s lab, meanwhile, Max and Michael, along with Professor Arturo, Wade, and most of the crew from the ship watched as Varec reassembled the timer, piece by piece. It seemed a daunting task, if not impossible. Some of the screws and parts were so tiny that they were hard to see, and some of the smaller parts were pre-manufactured and not meant to come apart, but that had not stopped Varec, whose curiosity was all but legendary in the Antarian star system.

Varec replaced the back of the timer and tightened the last screw. Then he held the completed unit up for inspection just as Quinn and Remmy walked back into the room. Quinn rushed to take the timer back and checked it over carefully, almost as though it were a kidnapped baby being returned to its mother. But one could see in his eyes that he felt a great deal of awe and wonder at seeing it back together again so quickly. The truth is, he had expected to have to put it back together himself and had estimated, in his own mind, that the task would take the better part of a day, given all the tiny parts that Varec had disassembled… more than eighty in all.

“Is it working,” Wade asked. “We’ve still got time to make the slide in four minutes.”

Quinn shook his head. “I… I can’t be completely sure. Now it says that our next slide is at… 10:03 AM tomorrow.”

Remmy looked at his watch. “What happened to the slide four minutes from now?”

Quinn shrugged.

“I made some adjustments to the computational modem in your timer,” Varec said.

Quinn looked shocked. “Did you take into consideration the Eisen-…”

Varec stopped him. “Are you familiar with the Or’zyn-Kort’yyc-Styas’vor theory of refractive recurring space holes?”

Quinn shook his head.

Varec smiled ever so slightly. “I didn’t think so. You’ve been traveling through space holes all this time and you’ve never taken into consideration the Or’zyn-Kort’yyc-Styas’vor theory of refractive recurring space holes?”

Quinn shrugged. “I guess so.”

Varec shook his head. “Amazing.”

“Maybe it’s the same thing as the Eisen-Rosenberg theory of bridges between worlds… or whatever…” Wade said. “It could be, you know.”

The professor nodded, seeming pleased with Wade’s observation.

“It seems to be a variant,” Varec admitted. “Your theory is valid, but it appears that it fails to take into consideration the variant curve of recurring space hole fracture episodes.”

“Just my luck, the first alien I meet and he talks like Quinn,” Rembrandt said. “What does all that mean in English?”

“No… no… it makes sense,” Quinn said, holding up his hand. “I understand what he’s saying. Don’t you see?” He looked at Professor Arturo, and the professor nodded cautiously…

“I believe I do. Amazing! Absolutely incredible! I should have seen it myself.”

Quinn looked at the timer again and smiled. “We have until 10:03 AM tomorrow before we slide.”

“All right!” Rembrandt exclaimed, appearing more than a little relieved at not having to slide again in what was now less than two minutes.

“If we had slid with the timer like it was before… two minutes from now,” Wade said, looking back and forth between Quinn and Varec, “What would have happened?”

Quinn thought about it and swallowed, then he looked at the professor, who seemed unsure.

“You would have come out right… here,” Varec said, putting his finger on a point on a space map above his workbench.

“I don’t see a planet there,” Professor Arturo said, looking closely at the map.

“There’s not one,” Varec replied.

“Oh.” Professor Arturo swallowed. “Then it would seem, Mister Varec, that we all owe you our most sincere and heartfelt gratitude.”

Varec smiled. “It was nothing.”

“Nothing to you maybe,” Rembrandt said, laughing nervously, “But it means a whole lot to me, I want you to know! I guess you guys saved our skin. I really appreciate that. I’m kind of intimately attached to mine, you know what I mean?”

Michael chuckled and nodded.

“Well, I want to thank you, too,” Wade said, giving Varec then each of the others in turn a quick hug.

“I guess I’ll make it unanimous,” Quinn said, with a nod to Varec, “I probably seemed aloof and a bit… you know… back there before, but it’s just that nobody else understands this stuff except the professor and me… and Bennish. But I’ve got a feeling you could teach me a few things.”

Wade rolled her eyes at the mention of Quinn’s decidedly socially challenged and unconventional, if admittedly genius friend, Bennish, back on their world.

“There is one thing, though,” the professor said,” I wonder if you would mind telling me where you obtained those amazing harem pants.”

“Yeah, I like those myself,” Remmy said, keeping an almost straight face.

Max and Kyle both looked down and realized that they had forgotten to change them back. Max touched his pants, and the Hammer harem pants reverted instantly to his usual style.

Kyle waited… “Come on Max! You know I can’t do it! Don’t leave me hanging here. This is embarrassing.”

Michael grinned. “NOW you think so. I told you guys you should have done Metallica.”



<center>End Of Chapter 2
tbc…</center>

<center>Sliding Into Antar</center>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Friends In
Strange Places

Chapter 3

III
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


It was getting to be dinnertime on the New Granolith, and the next sliding vortex would not open until the following morning, so Max and Liz led their guests to the dining area on the second floor, where some of the others were already beginning to gather.

No one in Quinn’s group had thought much about eating until now, but the mention of food brought out that empty feeling in their stomachs and made it suddenly the topic of the moment.

“Our food is a bit different than you might be accustomed to,” Liz said, “But it’s good. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Rembrandt laughed. “That’s okay. I don’t care what it looks like. If it can be chewed and it fills the empty place in my stomach, I’ll eat it. I just realized that we missed lunch today, and I’m definitely hungry. Cue Ball, you’ve really got to calibrate that thing to dump us out in Micky D’s after each slide, man. It would save so much trouble.”

Quinn smiled but didn’t reply.

Max motioned toward the large dining table…

“Sit wherever you’d like. There are no assigned places.”

“Right here looks fine to me,” Wade said, starting to sit down. Professor Arturo politely pulled out the chair for her then sat down himself in the seat next to her. Quinn took the seat on the other side of Wade, and Rembrandt sat next to Quinn.

Once they were all seated, the little diner droid came in. It looked around momentarily then rolled over to the Professor…

“What would you like to eat tonight?”

Professor Arturo seemed amused, as he looked the little droid over. “Well, I’m not quite sure, my good fellow. Your food is a mystery to me, as I have not yet had the occasion to try any of it. Would you mind running down the list for me?”

“He wants to know what you’ve got,” Rembrandt said with a grin.

“It’s a robotic entity… a machine,” the professor said. “It does not require exhaustive explanations, as some PEOPLE do… I will spare you the embarrassment of mentioning any names. I am quite certain that it understands proper English.”

Rembrandt chuckled, and the droid proceeded to reply to the professor’s question… “We have boneless rib of shebble, which can be served flame-broiled or wrapped in Ama leaves. We also have blue hen eggs, which can be served poached, fried, scrambled, or in an omelet with a sauce of detoxified Guma fungi with pashita toast. We have Grelligo soup, which is the specialty of the Grelligo region on Antar. We have fillet of Golden Sea Pargi, and we have Jarlagos-Droozeen. Some of the members of this crew call them Golden Sea pink-ringed crustaceans. With any of these entrées, you can have jir-bada, sereli-harlat, detoxified guma fungi, min-jaht-gojosh, boiled crushed Ama leaves, kernels of Een-Gelish Yyers, purée of Japo-Bala, or golden grelliats.”

The professor thought for a moment. “What do you recommend?”

“I do not eat food, so I am not capable of making a recommendation, but I have been told that it is all very good… and nourishing.”

“Well, there you are then,” the professor said with a smile. “Bring me… the Golden Sea crustaceans.”

“Very well, sir,” the droid replied courteously. “What would you like with them?”

“Just bring whatever seems… appropriate… with Golden Sea crustaceans.”

“What’s a shebble,” Rembrandt asked.

“It looks like kind of a cross between a longhorn steer and a yak,” Max said. “It’s big, but it has really long hair that reaches almost to the ground.”

“Can you make hamburgers then?”

“I can bring you pashita bread with boneless shebble rib,” the droid replied.

Rembrandt nodded. “What are jir-badas?”

“Bada tubors. I have been told that they are not unlike what you call potatoes.”

“Oh! Okay, I’ll have fries then.”

“Fried what, sir?”

“Potatoes… jir-badas.”

The droid moved over to Wade.

“My turn, huh? Okay, I’ll have an omelet with those eggs you mentioned? And a bowl of the Earl Grey soup.”

“Grelligo soup,” Tess said, correcting Wade with an amused but friendly smile.

“Will that be all?” the droid queried.

Wade nodded.

The droid rolled over to Quinn next.

“Oo-kay! Let’s see, you said boneless rib. I’ll have that. And I haven’t the slightest idea what any of those veggies are, so bring me the detoxified guma things and the golden grelliats. I’m adventurous.”

“Ooh, when did that start,” Remmy asked, his voice abounding with teasing but apropos sarcasm.

The droid went around the table and took everyone else’s orders, then it turned and glided quietly back to the food preparation room.

Quinn watched intently, with a keen curiosity, then he turned to Varec…

“An artificial intelligence life form! Did you build him?”

Varec smiled humbly. “I had a hand in creating him. My colleagues at the lab assisted me.”

Quinn shook his head in wonder. “I’d give anything to have enough time to discuss him with you. Artificial intelligence is so amazing.”

“Yes, there is hope for Bennish after all,” the professor deadpanned.

Wade closed her eyes but smiled.

“Conrad Bennish, Jr. is a prodigy,” Quinn insisted, in defense of his unconventional friend back on his own world. Both Bennish and Mallory had taken classes with Professor Arturo.

“Genius or not, he’s defective,” the professor asserted with great certainty. “I said it before… if I ever get back home, I’m going to dedicate my life to isolating the gene that makes him so obnoxious, and I will destroy it.”

“You don’t like the guy much, do you,” Isabel chuckled.

“He and the professor don’t get along very well,” Wade said, “They’re fire and ice.”

“THAT is an understatement, Miss Welles.”

Everybody laughed.

“So, Quinn… Mallory, is it?” Alex asked. Quinn nodded, as he took an approving bite of pashita bread. “You invented this device that takes you to different dimensions?”

Quinn nodded again. “Yeah. But we always end up in San Francisco… except this time. Anyway, always before, we landed in San Francisco, just in a different dimension.”

“I guess you’ve seen a lot of things then,” Alex said.

Rembrandt laughed and nodded emphatically. “You ever been on a planet that was in its new ice age and had to run from a gigantic ice tornado bigger than anything you’ve ever seen before, but you find out that you don’t slide for another hour?”

“That happened to you?” Tess asked.

Wade nodded her head, as she raised a spoonful of the Grelligo soup that the droid had just put in front of her to her mouth. “Mmmm! This is good! Yes. We did go to an ice world once. I think it was our first slide. We climbed into Remmy’s car with him to try to get warm, and he couldn’t figure out why it had got so cold all of a sudden and his car was locked in a snowbank in San Francisco, because he didn’t know anything about the timer or us. He was just driving by Quinn’s house on his way to sing the National Anthem at the half time show of a ball game, and he got caught in the vortex with us.”

“I did try to warn Mister Mallory that he was using too much power,” the professor said.

“Did you meet your doubles on any of the other worlds you’ve been on,” Liz asked.

“The professor got to work with Bennish on one of them,” Quinn said with a grin.

“And he was every bit as obnoxious as the original,” the professor said, taking a drink of jubish. “By the way, I must compliment you on this wine. It is quite good. It has a pleasant taste… and a very pleasant bouquet.”

“Thank you, on behalf of Antar,” Max said.

“You should have tasted Farj,” Michael said quietly.

“What was that,” Professor Arturo asked.

Michael chuckled. “It was supposed to be a soft drink… I think. We found it on Antar when we got there. It tasted like old, stale root beer.”

“But it was better than Hargoch,” Max said, grinning.

Michael laughed and nodded. “Hargoch is the Ghors’ ‘premium’ wine. It has a reputation among the Ghors for tasting as good the second time you drink it as it did the first time.”

Maria slapped Michael on the arm and put her hand over her eyes.

“It’s true,” Max said, agreeing with Michael.

“I know,” Maria conceded, “But you didn’t have to say it.”

“We had some,” Michael said, “Max and I did… on the Ghors’ planet, Ghorbidfael. We were on an undercover mission.”

“I still haven’t forgiven Shag for that either,” Maria said.

“What else have you seen that’s unusual,” Isabel asked.

“On one planet, Wade won the lottery,” Rembrandt said.

“Really?” Maria exclaimed. That’s great! How much did she win?”

“The winner was awarded the honor of being the next person to be executed for the benefit of population control,” Professor Arturo said. “It was presumed to be a great honor.”

“Omigod,” Maria exclaimed, shocked, “That’s awful! I guess you left that world quickly.”

Quinn shook his head. “We had to rescue Wade. It didn’t look very hopeful for awhile.”

“Oh! And there was this one world where Remmy was bigger than Elvis,” Wade said. “The people practically worshipped him.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t stay there,” Michael said.

“Yeah…” Rembrandt sighed, remembering his moment of greatest fame fondly. “I almost did. But there was this one little catch. I was supposed to be dead on that world… like the king, you know? When I showed up, all alive and everything, there was all this celebrating, and it was great for a while. Then we found out that my double from that world wasn’t really dead. He was just hiding and pretending to be dead. And he wanted to stay that way. That meant getting killed again. Guess who he had in mind for that.”

“Didn’t you ever go to some dimension and find a world that just seemed perfect and want to stay there,” Liz asked.

Wade nodded. “One world seemed really perfect, but the timer only gave us one day there. We didn’t know enough about it to make a decision to stay in that short a time. On another world, we really thought we were home. Everything seemed the same. The professor went back to work at the university. Everybody was happy. But then there was this one little thing that let us know it wasn’t our world. The Golden Gate Bridge was actually gold colored. We thought about staying there anyway, but… well… Then on another world, we thought we were home again, and Quinn was eating breakfast with his mom when his dad walked in.”

“What’s wrong with that,” Maria asked.

“Quinn’s father is dead.”

“Oh.”

“But he could have stayed there with his mom, and his dad would be alive again. It seems perfect,” Isabel said.

“But what happens if my double from that world ever comes back,” Quinn asked. “It’s his world, not mine. That’s the point really. It’s not mine.”

The others at the table all nodded, understanding Quinn’s feelings.

“What were YOU doing out of your own dimension,” Wade asked Liz. “I’d like to hear what brought you guys here.”

“It’s the first time for us,” Liz said. “We never traveled between dimensions before. We weren’t even sure that other dimensions existed until my younger double appeared to my daughter in some dreams and seemed to be hurt. Then she and Alex’s double came through to our dimension somehow using the orbs, and they told us that they needed help. So that’s why we’re here. We came to help them. It’s a long story, but at their high school graduation, their Max, Michael, Isabel, and Maria… and my double, Liz, were shot by special agents from a secret FBI unit who hunt down aliens and then dissect them in cooperation with a shadowy army group.”

Wade looked pale. “You mean… this happened on earth?”

“Yeah,” Liz said, nodding. “We all grew up on earth. Well… except Varec and Rayylar. They were born on Antar. Max and Michael are half Antarian. So are Isabel and Tess.”

“I knew they weren’t like us,” the professor said, “When they changed their pants like that.”

“Well, actually, some of us are only from earth,” Liz said. “I am. So is Maria… and Alex… We just married little green aliens.” Liz gave Max a playful but endearing smile.

“I was abducted,” Maria said, taking a sip of Grelligo soup.

“Really?” Wade asked.

Maria smiled. “Yeah. Okay, Michael abducted my heart. But I have to go where my heart goes, right?”

Wade nodded and cast a quick sidewise glance at Quinn, then she smiled and took another sip of her soup. Liz smiled, too, noticing the look in Wade’s eyes. It was clear to one who could recognize it, even if it was undeclared.

“So were you able to help your doubles,” Remmy asked.

“Yeah.” Michael said, “We were.”

“That’s good. I guess you guys had to hide from the FBI, too, huh?”

Max nodded. “We kept our secret very close, you know what I mean? We told no one.”

“Until Max went and saved Liz’s life after she got shot by a common thug in her dad’s restaurant,” Michael said. “At first, I was kind of pissed. Well, scared would be more accurate. I know that now. I felt like everything was going to come down around us right there.”

“It must have been really hard trying to live like that,” Wade said.

“It was sometimes,” Isabel admitted. “But we all survived it. We went back to our planet, took it back from the tyrant who had taken it from Max before, and put Max back on the throne. I can’t complain…” Isabel looked at Alex, who had reached over to hold her hand under the table, and she smiled. “We all got something good for our experience and time on earth.”

Wade looked back and forth at Isabel and Alex, Liz and Max, Michael and Maria and the others, and she smiled.

“Have you met a lot of weird aliens from other planets,” Rembrandt asked. “You guys look just like us. Do little green men really exist anywhere?”

Max smiled. “I don’t remember any little green men… unless you count Frebel-Ish, but he can make himself anything.”

“But we’ve seen a lot stranger,” Michael said. “We rescued these kids who were little puffy gas balls and some others that looked like ferns and just floated in the wind. The Ghors had kidnapped them.”

“You mentioned the Ghors before,” Wade said. “What are they?”

“Nasty,” Maria said simply.

Liz laughed and nodded.

“They’re nine-foot tall reptilians,” Alex said. “Some of them have hair and scales, others just have tufts of hair here and there on their scales. They’re grayish, ugly, and incredibly stinky.”

Liz nodded vigorously, and Maria smiled and nodded her own agreement.

“The Ghors were slavers,” Jim said, joining in the conversation for the first time. “It was how most of them made their living… kidnapping children throughout the galaxy and selling them.”

“For slaves?” Wade asked.

Jim nodded. “Slaves… exotic pets… exotic foods…”

“Omigod,” Wade whispered, recoiling at the thought.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about the Ghors anymore,” Liz said. “Shag sent them and their whole planet to a place so far away in the galaxy that they couldn’t get back even in a hundred years at the fastest light speed.”

Quinn looked up, his interest suddenly piqued. “This guy, Shag… he can move a planet?”

Liz nodded. “He used the sphere of the portal. The spheres were his to begin with… before I got them.”

“So… does that mean you could move a planet,” Rembrandt asked.

Liz thought about it. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to. Shag didn’t want to either, but the Ghors gave him no choice. It was the best solution to the problem, so he did it. Shag isn’t really his name. It’s Zasharn Shaqor Niseel Vredis Davor. He’s the king of his planet, Xarius. Zasharn means king. His first name is Shaqor, so Maya, his wife, nicknamed him ‘Shag,’ and we usually call him that, too, for short.”

“Good thinking,” Rembrandt said.

“Shag and Maya are over ten thousand years old,” Maria said, taking another sip of soup.

“But they don’t look it,” Liz hurried to add. “They look about forty maybe. People on their planet age slowly.”

“I’d like to know their secret,” Wade laughed.

Liz smiled and nodded. “It’s in the genes, I think.”

For the next hour, everyone in the two groups enjoyed themselves and got to know each other over dinner; and there were many compliments on the food, which everyone agreed, was superb. Max and Michael weren’t quite sure why they had opened up so much to these relative strangers, but somewhere, deep inside, they both felt that they and their unexpected guests shared a lot in common… Both groups were now interdimensional travelers with problems that most people could only imagine… Both groups had met and dealt with strange peoples and customs… Both groups had escaped dangers and lived in peril for their lives. The only thing that was maybe different about them was that Max and Michael knew how to get home; their friends didn’t.

But Max and Michael never imagined how alike their fates could become.



<center>End of chapter 3

tbc…</center>

Sliding Into Antar


And Stranger Things

Chapter 4

IV


The New Granolith was, in many ways, a small city in space. It had all the comforts that a mother ship could be expected to have… and probably a few more… on seven different levels. Level 1, the lowest level, contained the cargo and storage bay. It was also where the off-ship vehicles were kept and where the “pod room” was located, a special, watertight room that housed a small submarine, which Michael had christened the “Maria Mia.”

Level 2 was the galley and dining room area.

Level 3 housed the living quarters; and at the end of the corridor on that level, there was a lounge with video games, a TV, and various other sources of entertainment.

Level 4 was the bridge and control deck, with the pilots’ consoles and seats. This level also housed all the critical flight control equipment as well as the internal components of the engines.

Level 5 consisted entirely of a series of interconnected gardens, where many of the vegetables eaten onboard were grown. The gardens also sported many beautiful flowers and walking paths, one of which led to a small waterfall and a deep pond that was often used for swimming.

Level 6 was the arboretum. The trees in the arboretum supplied all the oxygen needed for interplanetary travel. There was a long path through the trees that began and ended at the same place, so there was no need to turn around and return the way one had come. It had been designed to meander back and forth through the park, giving the stroller the maximum possible walking distance, about a mile and a half. Approximately in the center of the arboretum, there was a gazebo with a swing, and further along on the trail, there was a small clearing where one could lie down by a clear little brook that provided water to the trees, have a picnic, or swing on a two-person swing suspended by vines from high up in one of the trees.

Level 7, the uppermost level of the ship, was the observatory, a bubble-shaped domed room with a 360-degree view of space. Among other things, the observatory boasted a couple of comfortable sofas for relaxing and watching the stars zip by and two special seats for remote viewing with RV goggles. The observatory was Michael and Maria’s favorite getaway place on the ship. It also happened to be Isabel and Alex’s favorite getaway place, so the two couples often competed to see who could get there first and claim it or had to agree to “schedule” their use of it… if they wanted to guarantee their privacy. From the observatory, one could watch the stars zip by as the ship sped along on its journey through the cosmos.

After dinner, Max and Liz had shown their four visitors to the rooms where they would be spending the night so that they could relax and freshen up. Then Liz, Maria, Isabel, Alex, and Tess had offered to show them around the ship. Max had given the visitors pretty much complete access to the ship, except for the control areas on level four… and even there, as long as they were accompanied by Max, Michael, Jim, or another crew member.

“Have you seen Quinn?” Rembrandt asked Tess, who happened to be nearby as he emerged from his room.

“I think he’s down the hall… playing pool with Rayylar.”

Rembrandt laughed. “That’d be Cue Ball! You got a pool room, huh?”

“It’s more like a game room,” Tess said. “Come on. I’ll show you where it is.”

Tess led Rembrandt to the lounge and pointed toward the pool table, where Quinn and Tess’ husband, Rayylar, were playing. They watched, as Quinn chalked up the end of his cue stick again.

“Hey, Cue Ball! You gonna go see some of the ship with me?”

“Yeah… sure… in a little while, Remmy.”

Rembrandt chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Don’t get between Cue Ball and a good game of pool. Okay, I’ll go see it. You can see it when you get ready.”

Quinn nodded, carefully aiming and sinking the four ball into the side pocket, as Rayylar watched.

Tess smiled and shook her head. “I’ll show you around if you’d like.”

“Yeah… That’d be nice.”

“What would you like to see?”

“Ummm… well, what’s a good place to see?”

“How about the arboretum?”

“Yeah! That sounds good. That means trees, right? Like… Arbor Day… arboretum?”

Tess nodded. “That’s where all the oxygen for the ship comes from. It’s a park with lots and lots of trees… kind of a little forest right here on the ship.”

As they stepped out of the ascension chamber on the sixth level, Rembrandt saw that there was a meandering path through some rather substantial deep woods in front of him.

“Are you sure we’re on a ship out in space, Tess? This is incredible,” Rembrandt said, looking all around him at the trees and forest-like growth, as the two of them walked along the path.

Tess smiled and nodded.

They had just passed the mid-way point and the gazebo about a thousand feet back, when Rembrandt felt a cold, moist something touch his hand and sniff, then lick the back of his neck and all the way up the back of his head, standing his hair on end. Tess was several steps ahead of him on the trail, so it obviously hadn’t been her. Slowly, Rembrandt turned around to look behind him.

His eyes opened wide, and he wheezed once. Every instinct in his body screamed “run,” but then he remembered Tess. Without a word, which he would have been unable to utter at that moment anyway, Remmy scooped Tess up over his shoulder and ran, as fast as his legs would carry him, all the way to the end of the path. There, he quickly sat Tess down, wheezing and gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?” Tess asked.

“It’s a… It’s a…” Rembrandt pointed back down the trail with a shaky finger. “Lady, you’ve got something WILD runnin’ around loose in here! It has big… huge… fangs or something. It looks like a saber tooth tiger!”

Tess giggled then broke out laughing.

“I don’t know why that’s funny,” Remmy gasped.

“That’s just Jung-Jo.”

“Who?”

“Jung-Jo. He’s a pet.” Tess turned around to find Jung-Jo waiting patiently next to the ascension chamber. He had gone the other way and had beat them both back, but until this moment, Rembrandt hadn’t seen him sitting there.

Tess patted Jung-Jo on the head and ran her hand down his back. “He’s really just a big friendly puddy tat… if he likes you.”

“That’s what worries me,” Rembrandt said, backing away cautiously. “How do I know he likes me?”

“Because he hasn’t eaten you yet,” Tess replied matter-of-factly.”

“YET? He could swallow us both and not even have to burp,” Rembrandt protested.

Tess laughed, taking Rembrandt by the hand. “Come here. Touch him. He won’t hurt you.”

Rembrandt cautiously reached his arm out as far as it would go and patted Jung-Jo on the head, then he smiled.

“Yeah… Yeah, he is kind of friendly, isn’t he? You know, that gives me an idea. Does he have to stay here in the arboretum all the time?”

Tess shook her head. “Actually, Jung-Jo kind of comes and goes as he wishes. You never know where he’ll be.”

“Do you think I could borrow him… just for a little while?”

Tess shrugged. “Ask him if he’ll go with you.”

Rembrandt swallowed and patted Jung-Jo on the head again. “You want to come meet someone, Jung-Jo?”

The cat stood up.

“I guess he’s okay with it,” Tess said.


**********


Quinn had the three ball, the two ball, and the six ball in his sights. He had carefully calculated each ball’s trajectory. If he hit the cue ball just right, it would drop the three ball into the far left corner pocket, the two ball into the left side pocket, and the six ball would rebound twice before dropping neatly into the right corner pocket nearest to him. Quinn bent down and rechecked the line of sight. Then, seeing that everything was perfect, he carefully drew the cue stick back…

Rayylar saw Rembrandt and Tess come in, and he saw Jung-Jo with them, but he was so accustomed to having the big cat around all the time that it didn’t faze him. He showed no reaction at all. Quinn, however, was totally absorbed as he prepared to drop three balls with one shot. He probably would have done it… He had dropped more than that on many other occasions.

Quinn shoved the cue stick forward over his left thumb, and as he did, out of the corner of his eye, he caught just a glimpse of something. It almost didn’t register through the haze of his single-minded, intense concentration…

Almost…

There was a long ripping sound, as the cue stick missed the cue ball and dug itself in under the felt top of the pool table. Almost simultaneously, Quinn leapt straight up and did a sort of quick side step to the other side of the table. It happened so fast that he didn’t even realize he had done it.

“Ooh, Cue Ball! I never saw you do that before,” Rembrandt said, looking at the long rip in the felt.

Quinn looked back and forth, first at the pawgor then at the ripped felt, then the pawgor then the ripped felt. It was hard to tell which one shocked him the most.

“WHAT is that?” he finally asked.

“It looks like a big rip to me,” Remmy said.

Quinn grimaced. “I can see THAT, Rembrandt! The CAT… Do you know what that is? It could be dangerous!” Even as he said this, his intense curiosity seemed to win out over the initial shock, and Quinn worked his way back around the table toward Jung-Jo.

Rembrandt patted Jung-Jo on the head. “Dangerous? You mean like sliding into unknown worlds… or maybe… telling Michael what happened to his pool table?”

Quinn found himself momentarily at an unusual loss for words. And as fate would have it, Michael walked into the room at that moment. Michael immediately spotted the ripped pool table and looked at Quinn. Quinn shook his head apologetically. Michael looked at the table again then at the pawgor, and he knew what had happened. Without a word, he passed his hand over the pool table, and the felt was once again unblemished.

Quinn took a deep breath --it was more like a gasp-- and ran his hand over the felt that, just a moment before, had appeared to be irreparably damaged. It was perfect now… almost better than new if that was possible. He couldn’t find even the slightest evidence that it had ever been damaged. He looked at the table again then at Michael…

“Listen, Michael… if you ever want to go into business… you could really get rich repairing pool tables and stuff!”

Michael smiled. “That’s all right.”

“I’m really sorry about the table. I never did that before.”

“I know,” Michael said, patting Jung-Jo on the head. “Jung-Jo can be a bit of a shock if you’re not prepared.”

Quinn looked at Rembrandt, who chuckled guiltily. He knew that Quinn wouldn’t forget this and would find a way to repay him sooner or later in kind.

And as if the adrenaline in the room weren’t already soaring high enough, at that moment, Professor Arturo walked in with Wade, looking for Quinn and Remmy. Spotting Jung-Jo, Wade did a double take and backed quickly out the door; but after a second look, she inched her way back in cautiously. Professor Arturo stopped dead in his tracks, momentarily dumbfounded. His eyes refused to even blink, as he stared in awe at the sight before him.

“My Gawd! It’s a Smilodon californicus! A saber tooth cat! Here! And very much alive by all appearances! Where in the world did you find it?”

“Jung-Jo is a pawgor,” Tess said. “They’re common in the Nan-Torel forest on Antar. They’re the reason Antarians avoid the Nan-Torel. Well… one of the reasons. But Jung-Jo’s friendly. Unless he has a reason not to be.”

“I’ll be very sure not to give him a reason then,” the professor said.

“Jim Valenti rescued Jung-Jo when Jung-Jo was very young,” Tess continued. “He was trapped under a fallen tree and would have died if Jim hadn’t found him and taken him home to fix him up and nurse him back to health.”

“As far as we know,” Michael added, “Jim is the first person who ever went into the Nan-Torel more than once… willingly… and survived. He even did a Vid production on the Nan-Torel and its fauna for Antarians. They think he’s crazy. But he’s something of a legend and a folk hero on Antar. His younger son, Danyy, can talk to animals, and we think he’s the reason Jung-Jo is so tame.”

“Amazing,” Professor Arturo said. “Simply amazing! I can only wonder what else there might be in that Nan-Torel forest of yours… perhaps even dinosaurs!”

Michael laughed. “I don’t think so. Jim never saw any dinosaurs. Lots of rob-jettas, nasty bats that will eat you, fire snakes, and of course, pawgors… and more poisonous plants than anyone can imagine… but no dinosaurs… that we know of.”

“Mmmm… all the same, it would be a marvel to be able to catalog the creatures in that forest, I would think.”

“You know… Jim might have a copy of the video he made that was shown on Antarian TV,” Michael said. “It’s not VHS compatible… not even close… but Varec could probably adapt it and copy it for you. I imagine Jim would be more than happy to let you have a copy. He’s always trying to educate Antarians about the Nan-Torel.”

“That would be incredible,” Professor Arturo said. “I would be truly indebted to all of you!”

“I’ll see if Varec can do it,” Michael said.

While Michael, Tess, and Professor Arturo were talking, Wade had edged over next to Rembrandt and was already petting Jung-Jo, who seemed to be very much enjoying all the attention he was getting, especially the petting.

“Where ever did you find this marvelous beast,” Professor Arturo asked Rembrandt.

Rembrandt laughed. “In the arboretum. He sneaked up behind me and licked the back of my head.”

“Yes… I wondered how you had straightened all the hair out on the back of your head and why it was sticking up on the top.”

Rembrandt ran his hands over his head, trying to push his hair back down, but it just popped right back up in the back like an antenna.

“You’ll have to shampoo it,” Tess said. “Danyy likes to let Jung-Jo lick his hair and give him pawgorlicks. That’s probably why Jung-Jo did it. But the pawgorlick won’t go away until it’s shampooed. It drives Danyy’s mom nuts.” Tess giggled as she thought about it.

“Did you see any of the other parts of the ship,” Remmy asked, turning to Wade, who smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

“Alex and Isabel took the professor and me for a walk through the gardens. They have some incredible gardens… they’re awesome! Did you like the arboretum?”

Rembrandt smiled sheepishly… “What I saw of it. The second half was sort of a blur.”

Tess giggled again.

“I would very much like to see the observatory on the top level before we leave,” Professor Arturo said.

Michael nodded. “That can be arranged. I’ll be glad to show you up there right now if you’d like.”

“Talking about leaving…” Max said, walking in the door at that moment with Liz. “I was just in to see Varec, and he has a message for you. He spent most of the evening making calculations and carefully recalibrating your timer. He traced your slides back to the first one you made by making a ghost image or something of your timer’s internal computer.”

“I tried to trace it back,” Quinn said. “The trail wasn’t strong enough to find anymore… after all the slides we’ve made.”

“Well, Varec was able to make a ghost image and sharpen the resolution. And he said to give you this message… He hopes you won’t miss sliding terribly much… because he made some changes to your timer, and tomorrow morning… You’re sliding home.”

In the room, there was total silence… then the room exploded in cheers.



tbc

Sliding Into Antar


Everything Is Relative

Chapter 5

V


As morning dawned and the hour approached for the slide, Quinn, Rembrandt, Professor Arturo, and Wade found themselves anxiously awaiting its arrival. There had always been a certain anticipation whenever they were about to slide, knowing that each slide might be “the one.” But this time there was an indefinable joy in the air.

“Who wants to do the honors,” Quinn asked, holding the timer up above his head.

“I’ll do it,” Wade said, reaching out with her hand. “Let me.”

Quinn handed Wade the timer, and she held it up, grinning from ear to ear.

“One minute left!

…Thirty seconds!

…Twenty!

…Fifteen!”

As the timer reached ten, they all began counting together…

“Nine!

Eight!

Seven!

Six!

Five!

Four!

Three!

Two!

ONE!” Wade pressed the button on the timer, and the vortex appeared.

Quinn looked at Max and Michael then at Liz, Maria, Alex, and the others and smiled…

“Thanks! All of you! And Varec… You’re amazing. I wish I could spend more time with you. Thank you… for everything.”

Varec smiled.

Quinn turned and ran forward; then, leaping into the vortex, he disappeared.

“What Quinn said… that goes double for me,” Rembrandt said. “And Tess, thanks for showing me around. I really liked the arboretum… the parts I saw of it. Take care of the kitty cat.” Remmy grinned then turned and leapt into the vortex, too, disappearing behind Quinn.

“Mister Varec,” said Professor Arturo, as he reached out to shake Varec’s hand, “You are truly… amazing. I will always remember you with fondness. Thank you… and thank each of you for your wonderful hospitality.”

Wade pointed at the timer, and Professor Arturo nodded.

“I would love to have been able to spend more time with you…” Professor Arturo added quickly, glancing at the timer… “But I must go… The vortex only stays open for a brief time.”

Professor Arturo leapt into the vortex headfirst and disappeared.

Wade turned and looked at Liz, Max, Michael, Maria, and the others, then she smiled and, with only a nod, leapt headfirst into the vortex after the professor. A moment after she did, the vortex snapped closed and disappeared as though it had never been there.

On the bridge of the New Granolith, there was an eerie feeling, like waking up from a strange but very vivid dream.

“Did that really just happen,” Isabel asked, voicing everyone’s feeling.

“Amazing,” Michael said, sounding oddly like the professor, “Simply amazing.”

The others nodded.



**********


Quinn walked down the sidewalk and up to the gate in front of his house, with Wade, Rembrandt, and Professor Arturo. Slowly, he opened the gate…

It squeaked.

He smiled, then the others smiled, too.

“SOUNDS like home.”

“Yes, but if the gate had not squeaked, how would you know that someone had not merely lubricated it,” Professor Arturo asked, logically.

Quinn shook his head. “It hasn’t been oiled since Pete Dandridge, our handyman’s nephew, caught his thumb in it while trying to oil it when I was twelve years old. It lobbed half of his thumb off, and mom hasn’t allowed anyone to work on it since.”

“But that was just a freak accident,” Wade said. “It probably wouldn’t happen again.”

“I know,” Quinn sighed, “But mom still feels guilty about it. Pete was just seventeen. The squeaking helps to soothe her guilt, I think. She feels like she’s protecting everyone. So we put up with a little squeak.”

Wade smiled, and Professor Arturo nodded.

As they walked toward the house, Mrs. Mallory saw them coming and ran out the front door, joyously throwing her arms around her son.

“Quinn! Omigosh, is it really you?” After a long hug, she looked at the others then motioned briskly with her hands… “Well come in, don’t just stand there! Come in! All of you!”

“Sit down! Sit down! Make yourselves comfortable,” Mrs. Mallory said excitedly, as she rushed around the room.

“Mom,” Quinn said, “This is Remmy… uh… Rembrandt Brown. You know Wade and Professor Arturo, of course. I guess you must be wondering where I’ve been…”

“Hi, Rembrandt!” Mrs. Mallory said cheerily. “Professor… nice to see you again… and Wade,” Mrs. Mallory added, smiling warmly at Wade.

“I know what happened, Quinn. After you disappeared, I found the notes you made downstairs in the basement… in your lab. I read all the stuff you wrote about traveling through dimensions. I don’t understand a word of it. But I always knew that someday you’d come back.”

Quinn hugged his mother again… “You know me pretty well, Mom.”

“It’s what I get for having a genius for a son, I guess. Right Professor?”

Professor Arturo nodded… “But you are much more the optimist than I, Mrs. Mallory. I’m afraid that there were times when I had serious doubts about getting back. I am pleased to say that now I can put those doubts behind me.”

“You could write a book about your adventures,” Wade suggested.

Professor Arturo nodded, as he considered what Wade had said. “Yes, my dear girl, I believe that is exactly what I will do! And now I will be able to review this videotape of alien creatures of the Nan-Torel forest that Mister Valenti made and that Mister Varec so graciously adapted and copied for me. I will be very busy, I do believe, for quite some time to come. And, Quinn, someone must write a paper for the scientific journals describing this method for traveling through dimensions that we have discovered.”

Quinn nodded and smiled. It was Quinn, actually, who had discovered interdimensional sliding. Professor Arturo hadn’t even believed him until the accident happened. But Quinn guessed that after all Professor Arturo had been through, he was entitled to some bit of credit. At least he had been there… and he did understand the theory and how it worked. Few people, besides the professor, Quinn, and Bennish did. And Bennish was too unfocused to write anything, despite his unquestioned genius.

“Well, my dear, dear friends, I really must leave and return to my work,” Professor Arturo said, “There is much to be done.” He turned and looked at Quinn. “Mister Mallory, in view of the mitigating circumstances… I am excusing you from class today. But please be ON TIME in the morning.”

Quinn saluted crisply.

Professor Arturo turned to Mrs. Mallory… “Mrs. Mallory… thank you for your hospitality. It is always a pleasure to see you, and I shall look forward to seeing you again.”

Mrs. Mallory smiled and nodded, still somewhat at a loss for words. “I hope so, too, Professor.”

“Well,” Rembrandt said, standing up. “I should be going, too. Mrs. Mallory, thank you. Cue Ball… It’s been… uh… What can I say? I hope we’ll see each other around.” Rembrandt looked at his watch and grinned. “You think I missed the half-time show?”

“I think so,” Quinn said. “Maybe they’ll ask you to sing the National Anthem at another game.”

Rembrandt nodded. “So long, Cue Ball… Wade.”

“Wade, why don’t you stay with us for a while,” Mrs. Mallory said, after the professor and Rembrandt had gone. “Have lunch with us.”

Wade looked at her watch and at the door… then at Quinn… and she hesitated momentarily…

“Well… I should be going home, too. A lot of people will be missing me… but… they’ve waited this long. I guess they can wait till I’ve had lunch.”

Mrs. Mallory grinned. “They’ll wait, dear!”



**********


Onboard the New Granolith, Max and Michael, together with Varec, were busy rechecking their course and their instruments.

“Everything looks good,” Michael said. Max nodded. “If nothing goes wrong,” Max said, “We should be home tomorrow afternoon.”

A cheer went up from everyone in the room.

Jung-Jo trotted over and rolled over on his back beside Michael, and Michael reached down and scratched his tummy. “I think Jung-Jo’s looking forward to getting home, too.”



**********


The following morning, Professor Arturo made his way early to the university and checked in with the president of the university and several other higher academic officials, of which he himself was one. He found that the university had not, as yet, hired anyone permanent to replace him… but he also found that they were not immediately inclined to allow him to return after having disappeared without a word for the better part of the academic year. It took a lot of explaining… and a promise to include several university officials’ names as co-workers on the interdimensional theory when he wrote his report for the scientific journals; but in the end, he succeeded in getting his job back.

Professor Arturo left the president’s office and walked to his class room feeling like a million dollars, which all considered, was probably a much smaller sum than he might actually stand to reap from his part in the discovery of interdimensional travel. But the professor was much more interested in the academic prominence and peer respect that this would bring him in scientific circles than in any possible monetary gains.

As he walked into the classroom, Professor Arturo discovered that everyone else was already there. He looked at his watch. He was one minute late, but for the first time ever, this didn’t bother him in the least. He set his briefcase down on his desk and opened it then looked up at the class, a vague smile edging inexorably over his face.

“Well, let’s see who is here…

Mister Darby…”

“Here.”

“Mister Alexander… James…”

“Yo.”

“Miss Moore… Samantha.”

“Here.”

Professor Arturo stopped and looked at the next name for a moment…

“Mister Bennish.”

“Here, sir.”

Professor Arturo looked up but did not see Bennish.

“Who said that?”

“I did, sir,” a very well dressed and well groomed young man in the middle row replied.

Professor Arturo bristled momentarily. “I do not enjoy being made the fool of. You may be sitting in Mister Bennish’s chair, but you are most assuredly NOT Mister Bennish.”

Professor Arturo moved from behind his desk and walked toward the young man in the middle row. Then he took a good look at his face and went pale…

“OH MY GAWD! What have you done to yourself?”

The young man appeared at a loss, as he examined his clothes cluelessly. “I… I’m sorry, Professor. Is something wrong?”

Professor Arturo shook his head. “No… No, you are… impeccable.”

Professor Arturo dropped his papers and rushed from the room then out of the building, almost running into Quinn Mallory on his way down the stairs.

“Sorry, Professor! I’m late again, I know…”

“Never mind, Mister Mallory. It doesn’t matter.”

Quinn looked around, shocked, then looked carefully at the professor. “What did you do with Professor Arturo?”

“Never mind that now, Mister Mallory. The question is not who I am but who that imposter in my class is who is claiming to be Mister Bennish!”

“How do you know he’s an imposter?”

Professor Arturo scoffed. “His clothes… his hair… his grooming are all impeccable… He is good mannered… and infinitely polite… TO ME!”

Quinn shrugged. He wanted to say that maybe Bennish had turned over a new leaf since they had been gone, but he couldn’t force himself to believe it.

“Are you sure it wasn’t Bennish, Professor?”

“Oh, it WAS! THAT is the problem. He was sitting in Mister Bennish’s chair, he answered when I called Mister Bennish’s name, and he has Mister Bennish’s face. I could NEVER forget that face, Mister Mallory, I assure you, as much as I should like to.”

Quinn nodded, still trying to think of some explanation, but he couldn’t. He walked back toward his own house, which was only a few blocks from the university, and Professor Arturo walked with him, at the moment feeling that he had no other place to go.

“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “It seems odd, I admit… but we should check it out. Everything else here is so perfect.”

“A perfect Mister Bennish is too much perfection to be believed, Mister Mallory.”

Quinn shrugged. “Maybe it’s for the better.”

“Oh, of that I am certain, Mister Mallory. But he is NOT OUR Mister Bennish. That is the problem, isn’t it?”

Quinn nodded, but in his mind, he still wasn’t ready to believe it.

As they approached Quinn’s house, Quinn noticed a young man moving the gate back and forth. It appeared that he was oiling the hinges. Quinn started to tell him not to bother, but as the young man turned around, Quinn recognized him…

“Dandridge?”

The young man smiled and held up his hand to greet them, and Quinn swallowed hard.

“Is something wrong, Mister Mallory?” Professor Arturo asked.

“His thumb,” Quinn said, “He has one.”

“The last time I checked, most people do,” Professor Arturo joked.

“Not Dandridge. Remember I told you that he lost it in that gate when he was seventeen.”

Professor Arturo looked at the smiling young man they were approaching. He appeared to be in his early twenties, and he definitely had four fingers and a thumb… on each hand.

“What are you doing here,” Quinn asked, clutching Dandridge’s hand in greeting… at the same time assuring himself that the thumb was real and not a prosthetic.

“Uncle Fred couldn’t come today. He’s got the flu. So I’m doing his rounds. I noticed your gate was squeaking again.”

Quinn nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah… yeah, it is… it was. Thank you.”

“Oh, you don’t need to thank me. Uncle Fred’s paying me well.” The young man laughed.

Quinn looked at Professor Arturo. “We have to tell Wade and Remmy.”

“Should we,” Professor Arturo asked. “I wonder… wouldn’t it perhaps be kinder to let them go on believing…”

Quinn shook his head. “Would you want to believe it if it weren’t true, Professor? I’ll let them decide. If they want to stay here, they can stay. If they want to keep looking…”

“Agreed,” Professor Arturo said.



***********


Quinn held up the timer and noted the time. It was 3:09 PM, and the vortex would be there in less than one minute. He prepared to push the button that would make the vortex visible, as the timer reached zero.

“You can back out now. You don’t have to go… any of you. This world is more like our own world than any we’ve found so far. You could live normal lives here.”

Wade shook her head and put one arm around Quinn’s arm then put her other arm over the wrist of the first arm, locking them together. Quinn nodded and swallowed, understanding for perhaps the first time ever what Wade was really saying.

Rembrandt looked totally lost. “I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. Things here are like they should be. You know what I mean? I was just getting my life back.”

Quinn smiled and nodded, then he pushed the button and the vortex appeared.

“It’s your decision, Remmy. We’ll miss you… but you deserve to be happy. You may never find what you’re looking for if you go with us, so if you want to stay on this world… I’ll understand.”

“Goodbye, Cue Ball,” Rembrandt said, his face etched with sadness and uncertainty. “Bye, Wade. I love you, girl! Professor! You’re okay, man!”

“I’ll take that as a high compliment, Mister Brown,” Professor Arturo said, squeezing Rembrandt’s hand. Then the professor turned and jumped into the vortex right behind Quinn and Wade.

Now alone, Rembrandt waved a final halting good-bye and started to walk away. Then he looked around again at this world so much like his own…

“Aw, hell!”

He spun around and ran toward the vortex, leaping into it and disappearing just as it snapped shut.



**********



THREE HOURS EARLIER…
unknown to Quinn or the professor, who had already left the science building, an unkempt student walked into Professor Arturo’s class and turned over the seat of the well-groomed Mister Bennish…

“That’s my seat, man! You may be my cousin and you may look like me, but you’re not gonna frikkin’ take my seat just ‘cause it’s your first day here!”

“Sorry, Conrad, I didn’t know. The seat wasn’t taken.”

There was a bit of snickering from some other students in the class.

“Conrad never comes on time,” another student said. “It’s against his religion.”

“Yeah, see!” Bennish said. “So don’t go takin’ my seat when I’m not here!”

He looked around, suddenly noticing that he hadn’t been reprimanded. “Where’s the Babe?”

“The ‘sub’ didn’t come today,” another student said, as Conrad’s cousin stood up and looked around for another seat, “Professor Arturo came in, but he looked at Jeremy and ran out.”

“You see?” Conrad laughed, “Even he can’t stand you! You’ve got brains, man. Granted, you’re not as smart as I am, but you’ve got brains. You just need to get some… style.”

“Weird man that Arturo,” Conrad added, shaking his head. “He usually doesn’t lose it and run out cursing till I get here.”

In front of Quinn’s house, at about the same time, the young Mister Dandridge walked up to the door and knocked, and Mrs. Mallory came to the door.

“Hi, Ma’am. I’m Steve Dandridge. Fred’s my uncle. He’s got the flu, and I’m helping him with his rounds.”

“Oh… okay,” Mrs. Mallory said with a smile. Then she turned back to the young man. “I thought your name was Pete?”

“Pete’s my brother,” Steve said. “We’re twins. Didn’t you know?”

Mrs. Mallory shook her head.

“Most people can’t tell us apart… except Pete’s missing a…”

Mrs. Mallory cringed. “I know. I still feel terrible about that.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Mrs. Mallory. Actually, Pete wanted to come over here himself today, but he had already promised to help a friend baby sit for another relative’s kids.”

“A ‘girl’ friend,” Mrs. Mallory asked.

Steve nodded.

“Well… then I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that,” Mrs. Mallory said with a big smile.

Steve laughed and nodded. “I’ll start with the yard if that’s okay.”

“That will be fine… Steve, is it?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Mrs. Mallory smiled then went back into the house, and Steve walked out to the fence to weed, but as he moved the gate it squeaked. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a small oil can and pumped it a couple of times on each hinge. Then he moved the gate back and forth several times, waving as he noticed Quinn and another person coming toward him on the sidewalk.



tbc

Sliding Into Antar



Antarian Storms

Chapter 6

VI


The morning of the following day was filled with great excitement on the New Granolith. Antar was in sight. Okay, if one used the RV goggles, Antar was in sight. The newest Remote Vision goggles could magnify a speck of light by a factor of three thousand. To the naked eye, Antar was nowhere near visible yet, but at the speed the New Granolith was traveling, it was expected to become visible to the naked eye within two more hours. One hour after that, they would be approaching the planet. Twenty minutes after that… they would be home. HOME! The word was on the lips, in the minds, and in the hearts of every person on the ship. They had not been home in almost two months now, and everyone was anxious to see their children and their own planet again.

“What do you think our vortex-sliding friends are doing right now,” Michael asked, turning his co-pilot’s seat around to face Max.

Max shrugged. “Getting on with their lives, I imagine. They have a lot of catching up to do. Their lives have been turned upside down for almost a year now.

“I can’t imagine being totally lost out here for that long,” Liz said sadly. “I don’t know how they did it and didn’t lose their will to go on… and even kept a sense of humor.”

“Just like your double in the world we were just on did it, I imagine,” Tess said. “The FBI guys shot her and paralyzed her, they told her that Max, Michael, Isabel, and Maria were dead, they locked her and Alex up in an insane asylum, and they tried repeatedly to kill her, and still she survived and even found the others.”

“She WAS amazing, wasn’t she,” Liz said, somehow not feeling at all uncomfortable about praising her own double’s courage.

“They were all amazing,” Michael said. “Those guys have got a lot of guts. I’ve got to give ‘em that. The vortex sliders do, too.”

Liz and Maria nodded.

“You think we’ll ever see them again, Max,” Tess asked.

Max thought about it and laughed. “I doubt it. We don’t even know which dimension they live in. Varec just sent them back to their original point of origin. It had to be their home, since it was where they started out from.”

“Yeah,” Tess mused. “They were a lot of fun, though. They had a lot of interesting stories to tell about all the worlds they’d been to. I hope we see them again.”

“Well, I would never say never, Tess… but don’t count on it,” Michael said. “Now that they’re home, they’ll probably throw that timer thing in the next vortex. I know I would.”

Tess laughed.

“I’m gonna miss them, though,” Maria said. “It was nice to have some company for a while.”

Max nodded. “Yeah.”

As Michael turned around, he noticed Alex and Isabel quietly edging toward the door. It took him only a moment to realize where they were going…

“Uh, Max… can you handle the piloting for the next hour or so, while Maria and I…”

Alex turned and headed out the door with Isabel at a fast pace.

“No you don’t!” Michael shouted, grabbing Maria by the hand and racing for the door behind them.”

“They’ll get to the ascension chamber before we do,” Maria said.

Michael looked around quickly. “Liz? Can I borrow your sphere… just for a minute?”

Liz laughed. “What? No! That would be cheating, Michael! If they get to the observatory first they get there first, that’s all.”

Michael raced for the ascension chamber with Maria in tow. As fate would have it, Alex and Isabel had had to wait for the chamber to come back down, and they were just getting in. Michael leapt into the chamber with Alex and Isabel, pulling Maria with him.

There was a pregnant silence as the ascension chamber rose then stopped on the top level. The door opened, and Michael and Alex both leapt out, racing for the sofa in the back of the room as though it were the final goal of a relay race. Both of them leapt at the same time, Alex falling on top of Michael on the sofa.

Alex lifted his head and looked Michael in the eyes. “I got here first. It’s ours.”

“I was first,” Michael said.

There was a cough from the direction of the ascension chamber, and both Alex and Michael turned their heads to look. Maria and Isabel stood in the chamber tapping their toes on the floor…

“Did you guys forget something,” Maria asked.

“Like US,” Isabel said.

“When you get through hugging Alex,” Maria said, “Can I get some?”

Michael and Alex looked at each other and both of them leapt up from the couch. Michael brushed himself off compulsively. Alex stood there, looking uneasy and embarrassed.

“You know,” Isabel said, “In about two hours, everybody on the ship is going to be up here looking for Antar as we get closer.

“Yeah, I know,” Alex said. “I just wanted you and me to have a little time to ourselves before the rush started.”

Isabel smiled and walked over to Alex then put both arms around him and kissed him. “Save that thought, lover boy. When we get to Antar, I’m going to collect on it… with interest.”

Maria put her arms around Michael and kissed him, too. “What Isabel said… the same thing goes for me.”

Michael grinned. “Well… you ARE a lot more kissable than Alex.”

“That’s your opinion,” Isabel said.

Michael sighed and looked at Maria then back at Isabel and Alex… “All right, you guys can have the observatory. You were headed this way first, I guess, anyway. Maria and I’ll go to the gardens.”

He looked at Maria… “Is that okay?”

Maria nodded and smiled. “More than okay. It’s private.”

Michael grinned. “Yeah, it is… isn’t it?”



**********


As Isabel had predicted, in less than two hours, the others began to show up in the observatory, hoping to get a first glimpse of Antar… and home. The first ones to show up were Tess and Rayylar. Then Jim and Kyle came in together. Shortly after them, Michael and Maria returned from their trip to the gardens. Max and Liz had stayed on the control bridge together, along with Varec, who temporarily assumed Michael’s co-pilot position, though they all knew that the ship could fly with only one pilot… or even with none, if need be, so long as the computer flight program had been set and nothing unexpected happened.

It wasn’t long before Jim spotted Antar. All of them had already seen it, using the RV goggles, but Jim spotted the tiny golden orb in the distance before any of the others did… without the RV goggles. The orb seemed to grow quickly, going from the size of a pinhead to the size of an orange in slightly less than twenty minutes… and from the size of an orange to the size of a basketball in the next ten minutes. Fifteen minutes after that, they were preparing to enter the atmosphere.

Michael and Maria returned to the bridge, where Michael reassumed control of the co-pilot’s panel.

“Looks like everything is still right where we left it,” Michael joked.

Max smiled, then he turned the nose of the ship down slightly and dropped into the atmosphere. What happened next seemed like a dream… a bad one. Almost as soon as the ship touched the atmosphere, the blue skies and clear golden sea below began to turn black and soupy. Then the ship was hit by a bolt of lightning out of nowhere. Within seconds after that, the ship was literally engulfed in torrential weather and incredible flashes of lightning from every different direction at once. The ship rocked to the right and fell back to the left, losing altitude rapidly. Then, just as suddenly, it surged and rose again, as though it had hit a powerful, concentrated updraft.

“My God!” Max exclaimed. “I’ve never seen a storm come up so suddenly on Antar.”

“I’ve never seen a STORM like this one on Antar,” Michael said, trying to brace himself in his seat as the ship lurched again.

“Nor have I,” Varec said. “It appears to cover the entire northern hemisphere… at least… maybe even the entire planet.”

“Did you see how fast everything changed,” Liz said, holding onto the back of Max’s chair tightly. “The sky was blue and cloud-free just a minute ago. Now it’s blacker than midnight! And the sea! The sea turned black, too!”

“How can you tell,” Maria asked. “I can’t even see it anymore.”

“I saw it right before the sky closed in on us,” Liz said… “Well, anyway, I think I did.”

Max swallowed and adjusted the attitude dampers slightly to stabilize the ship. It seemed to work. An older ship would not have had all the special equipment that Varec had had installed in the New Granolith and probably would have been doomed and crashed.

Max took the ship down to five hundred feet above sea level, but they still couldn’t see anything but the soupy blackness around them, lit up by relentless lightning bolts that continued to pound the ship mercilessly from every direction. Michael passed his hand over a sensor, and a screen came alive in front of them, displaying a virtual image of the ship and the planet below. At the bottom of the screen, numbers and data, in Antarian, flowed continuously from right to left, telling them the ship’s altitude and position second by second.

Eight minutes later… though it seemed like an hour… the ship set itself down on solid ground. Actually, it set itself down fifteen feet above the ground, on a magnetic field created by the anti-gravity repulsors, but the anti-gravity repulsors locked the ship in place in that position just as though the ship itself were on the ground. The ship would not move, regardless of weather conditions, while the anti-grav was engaged.

According to all the data, they were in CoruzAntar, Antar’s capitol, in a large field near the lab that normally housed the New Granolith. Varec activated the ship’s ground shields and quickly entered a few calculations into the ship’s computers, expanding the shield’s range outward sufficiently so that they would be able to transport down without being hit by lightning or drenched by the torrential black rains.

Michael went first, appearing on the ground beneath the ship in an invisible ionic beam. Max followed Michael, and Varec went next. After them came Jim, followed by Kyle, Alex, Isabel, Liz, Maria, Tess, and Rayylar. Soon, everyone was on the ground… but they were pretty much confined to the area that the shield covered. No one was going to venture out unprotected into the strange weather beyond the shield’s range.

“What do we do now,” Liz asked. Max shook his head, thinking.

“I have an idea,” Michael said, disappearing back into the ship. A little over four minutes later, the ship’s ramp came down and something started down it. Liz and Maria looked at each other and, in spite of their fears and everything that had been happening, both of them laughed out loud.

“The Snapples truck! I didn’t know we still had that on the ship,” Maria said.”

“Michael thought he might need it if we ever went back to earth again… to bring, uh, supplies to the ship,” Max said.

Michael pulled the truck up beside the others and rolled the window down…

“Anyone going to the palace? Hop in. Rides are free today.”

The others all piled into the back of the truck, and Max worked his way forward into the seat beside Michael…

“Do you think you can find the palace in this weather, Michael? I can’t see anything out there. That black rain is impenetrable. And this truck doesn’t hover… if you run into a ditch…”

“I’ll find it,” Michael said with confidence. Just hold on.”

Michael turned the truck around and headed in the direction of the palace. Though the air all around them was soupy black and visibility all but non-existent, somehow he managed to stay on the road that led to the palace. They were about half way there when things changed again… unfortunately, not for the better. The truck had already taken several lightning hits, but what hit it this time was hard… and fiery. There were gasps and a couple of muffled screams from the back of the truck, as a small fireball passed through the truck, barely missing Varec.

“What was that?” Maria screamed.

Michael looked out the windshield. It was raining fireballs everywhere in the sky, and some of them were beginning to reach the ground. Then Max saw where they were coming from… a huge meteor that was headed straight toward CoruzAntar, and coming fast. The fireballs appeared to be breaking off from it. Max gasped audibly and pointed, but Michael had already seen it. So had Varec.

Suddenly, Michael veered the truck violently to avoid a larger fireball that plowed into the ground directly in front of them, and the truck tilted. Then slowly… unstoppably… as though in a dream… the truck rolled over onto its side.

“This isn’t right,” Varec said.

“You’re telling me!” Alex exclaimed, as everyone scrambled to get back up again and Jim kicked open the back doors of the truck.

“What do you mean… not right,” Max and Michael both asked at the same time.

“I don’t know… exactly,” Varec said… “But it’s not right. That meteor up there is getting larger very quickly.”

“Yeah, it’s getting CLOSER very quickly,” Michael exclaimed.

Varec shook his head. “The angle is all wrong for the rate of optical perspective augmentation.”

“Only Varec can be about to die and be totally thrilled about learning something new,” Rayylar said, incredulous.

“No, no!” Varec shook his head. “You don’t see! It can’t be real. At the angle the meteor is falling, it should increase in perspective exponentially… but not as fast as it is. The rate is all wrong.”

“What are you saying,” Max asked, turning toward Varec and giving him his complete attention. “If I understand you right… are you saying that there’s no meteor out there?”

Varec nodded.

“And no fireballs?” Michael asked.

Varec nodded… “And probably no lightning or bad weather. Someone out there is putting on a show for our benefit… to frighten us away.”

“Well, they’re doing a hell of a good job of it,” Michael said, glancing back up at the fast approaching meteor. He was sure that he could feel heat radiating from it now.

“Tess,” Liz mused, turning around, as an idea came into her mind. “Could you create a mind warp that would make someone out there think they saw the New Granolith fly away… and make all of us invisible?”

“I don’t know,” Tess said, shaking her head, uncertain, “How far would I have to extend the mind warp?”

“I don’t know,” Liz admitted, “As far as you can. We don’t know where the person is who’s doing this.”

“I may not have enough power,” Tess said ruefully, “But I’ll try.”

“Do it,” Max said, encouraging her. “It could work if they’re nearby.”

Tess nodded then closed her eyes and concentrated. For twenty to thirty seconds, nothing happened. Then, as suddenly as everything had started, the meteor, the black rain, the lightning, the fireballs, all of it dissolved into thin air and simply disappeared as though it had never existed at all. The sky was blue, clear, and beautiful.

“IN-credible,” Alex said, looking around.

“Unbelievable,” Kyle mumbled, shaking his head.

Max turned around to look at their overturned truck but noticed that someone else had taken an interest in it, too. He nudged Michael and pointed. Michael turned and looked, then everyone else turned around and looked. The truck was being carefully picked over… by children.



tbc

Sliding Into Antar



The Children Of The Ruins

Chapter 7

VII


Tess concentrated, pushing the mind warp out as far as she could; and it appeared to be working, since none of the children climbing into the overturned truck thirty feet away had any inkling that they were being watched. The children had seen the New Granolith fly away shortly after the truck overturned in the “storm.” But like the storm, what the children saw was an illusion. The New Granolith still sat only a hundred feet away, fifteen feet up in the air, on its anti-gravity field.

“Now what do you think those kids could want with our truck?” Michael asked, in a whispered tone.

Max shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out right now!”

Max walked over and laid a strong hand on the shoulder of one of the children who had just climbed out of the truck. The boy, who was facing away from Max but who appeared to be about ten or twelve years old, nearly jumped out of his skin and swatted frantically at his shoulder, as though he thought he had just been grabbed by a ghost. And since, by all appearances, there was no one there, that must have seemed to be the case. But the boy quickly discovered that his “ghost” was strong. No matter how much he squirmed, he could not break the invisible grip on his shoulder. Max reached out with his other hand and turned the boy around so that he could see his face.

“Zorel,” Michael gasped, recognizing his oldest son. Michael started to walk toward his son, but just then another of the children ran by him, and he reached out and grabbed her by the arm.

“JoLeesa?” Max exclaimed. The girl in Michael’s grip turned pale at the sound of disembodied voices in the air, and when the invisible hand touched her arm, she quite literally leapt out of her shoes. She struggled to get free but found her efforts useless.

“Tess, drop the mind warp,” Max yelled.”

Tess took a deep breath and opened her eyes. As she did, the “ghosts” slowly became visible. If Max thought the children’s reactions to being grabbed by something unseen could not be topped, he was mistaken. Their reactions to him and to Michael were even greater. First, they went pale, then they teetered as though they might collapse where they stood.

“JoLeesa,” Liz exclaimed, her jaw dropping in disbelief… “Andya! Maya! Alyyx!”

All of Liz and Max’s children were there except Jeffy. She didn’t see Jeffy. Michael quickly rounded up Jayyd and Kryys and relieved Max of Zorel, who soon realized that Michael’s grip was no less inescapable than Max’s had been.

Meanwhile, Alex and Isabel had rounded up Mareeya and Ceelya and had also managed to catch Danyy, who was quickly taken “into custody” by his father, Jim Valenti.

Kyle caught Rayyn and Taz as they emerged from the truck and tried to run; then, looking into the overturned truck, he discovered a little girl hiding. Recognizing Liz-Jolee, he lifted her out of the truck and handed her to her father, Varec.

Tess, who had been watching everything that was going on with a stunned reaction, turned around to find her husband, Rayylar, holding Jiba and Drel each by the arm, and they were struggling hard to get away.

“This isn’t right,” Tess said, shocked at what was happening. “These can’t be our children. They just can’t. My children love me.”

“Tess is right,” Maria said, trying to help Michael hold a struggling Jayyd, their youngest child. “Something is very wrong here.”

That, at least, had by now become obvious to all of them. If these were their children, something terrible had happened to them… and if they weren’t their children… then who?

Though all of the parents were thinking the same question, it was one of the children, Andya, who finally asked it…

“Who are you? Are you working for Kivar… Are you darkhole shadowshifters?

“We’re your parents,” Max said firmly, looking Andya in the eyes. Andya tried to reply, but her voice vanished and she only stammered and shook her head.

“You’re not our parents,” Zorel said with total certainty, but Andya was not so sure. Something in Max’s eyes had looked familiar. It was impossible, but it was hard to deny.

“Sweetheart,” Maria said, “We are your parents… I promise you.” She put one hand on Zorel, and he pulled back and cringed, shaking his head…

“Our parents are dead. Kivar killed them.”

The effect of that statement was like a lightning bolt passing through each one there.

“What do you mean,” Max asked, turning to Zorel. “Why would you think Kivar killed us?”

“We saw it,” Andya whispered in a thin, shaky voice. “We saw you… all.”

“Dead?” Isabel asked.

“Yeah,” Ceelya said.

Isabel looked at Alex, and tears welled up in her eyes. Alex hugged her against his heart, trying to comfort her, but he was just as shocked as she was. Then Isabel looked at Max, Michael, Liz, and the others. She had a terrible, sick feeling in her stomach, and she could see that they all shared it. Somehow, they had stumbled upon another alternate dimension instead of their own; and here, Max and the others must have deposed Kivar, and he must have returned and killed them… probably with the help of the shadow-dwelling shapeshifters… leaving their children as homeless orphans fending for themselves amongst the ruins. It was just the kind of cold, heartless revenge Kivar would appreciate. But where was everybody else? Had Kivar killed everyone on the planet… or just the royal family and important people… or all the parents? It seemed very hard to believe that he could have killed everyone, but where were the other children? Where were the other adults? It didn’t make sense.

“Zorel, what can I do to convince you that I am who I say I am,” Michael said, turning to his and Maria’s oldest son.

Zorel shook his head but didn’t reply. He was thinking about it. He didn’t believe it, but deep inside, he did WANT to believe it… He wanted desperately to believe it.



tbc


Coming Next: The Test

Sliding Into Antar



The Test

Chapter 8

VIII


Yes, what can we do to make you believe us,” Liz asked, repeating Michael’s question for Zorel and putting him under even more pressure to decide quickly whether or not these new people were friends or enemies. They looked like their parents. But that was not necessarily a plus. That made Zorel think all the more that they must be shapeshifters. He knew that they weren’t his real parents. And yet, there was something… Zorel had no idea what it was or why he felt so bothered. He was, even at his young age, more than able to defend himself and the others with powerful blasts that he was capable of producing from the palm of his hand. He had done it before. He was not afraid of bad guys… Well… bad guys that he could see anyway. He shuddered briefly as he remembered the feeling Max’s vice-like grip on his shoulder caused in him when Max was invisible.

Zorel turned to Maya, who was the same age as he was… “Maya…”

He said her name then just nodded, but Maya understood. She concentrated for several long moments then shook her head. “I don’t feel any evil in their thoughts… not like I felt in the shadowshifters… or in Kivar.”

“They may have found a way to hide it from you, Maya,” Ceelya said.

Maya shook her head. “I don’t feel like they’re hiding anything like that. I can feel their thoughts, and I don’t sense any evil in them.”

“But they’re not our parents,” Zorel said firmly. “They’re trying to trick us by looking like our parents.”

“I don’t feel any deceit coming from them,” Maya said, shrugging.

“I think I can explain why we look like your parents,” Isabel said. “Have you ever heard of alternate dimensions?”

Maya nodded. “They’re not real. They’re just a theory.”

“They are real,” Isabel said, nodding her head emphatically. “We’re from another dimension. You see, we didn’t know either… I mean… we thought we were returning home to our planet, in our own dimension, but somehow we found your planet instead… Do you understand?”

Zorel just looked at her. Isabel wasn’t sure if he didn’t believe her or if he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Okay, you see,” Isabel said, “We found out that other dimensions actually do exist, and we went to another dimension in our ship, but when we tried to go home, we came to this world, and we thought it was ours, but now we know it’s not…” Isabel sighed dejectedly. “You don’t understand any of this, do you?”

“I understand,” Zorel said. “I’m just not sure if I believe you.”

“It is possible,” Kryys said, turning to face Zorel. “I’ve seen that there is something beyond the expanse… in the other place.”

“The River of Time,” Michael said, nodding.

“I don’t know what it’s called,” Kryys said. “River of Time? That sounds like a good description.”

“You never met the Drax guy?” Michael asked, somewhat shocked.

Kryys shook his head. “Who is that?”

In our dimension, he’s been teaching my son… Kryys… that’s you in our dimension… about the River of Time and everything like that. You know, the stuff you do, turning into atoms and disappearing.”

Zorel looked at Kryys, surprised… “He knows about that.”

“What else do you know about us,” Andya asked suspiciously.

“Well,” Liz said, “If you’re like my Andya, you can make animals appear out of nowhere… and you hate gojos.”

Andya’s mouth opened in surprise. “I do hate gojos. They taste like little green caca.”

“They do not!” Liz scolded. “They’re good for you. They give you vitamins to grow up strong and healthy, and they taste good.”

“She sure sounds like Mom,” JoLeesa said. Andya nodded, her eyes reflecting her shock.

“We know everything about you… about all of you,” Kyle said. “It’s obvious that your families were a lot like ours. Same kids… so you must have had the same parents.” Kyle looked at Danyy… “Your Dad was my Dad, Jim Valenti. But your Mom was Antarian. Her name was Jeliya.”

Danyy looked surprised.

“On the world we were just on, my Dad… I mean, his double… married Amy DeLuca.”

Danyy grinned then broke out laughing. “No way! Aunt Amy… and Dad?” Zorel laughed, too, then the others started to laugh.

“It’s not really so funny,” Kyle said. “They knew each other on Earth, you know. They even went out together a few times when they were on Earth.”

“That’s true,” Danyy said. “I forgot.”

“Your Dad dated Aunt Amy when they lived on Eluymer?” Andya asked in shock.

“Yeah… but that was when they were both little kids, I think,” Danyy replied.

Zorel nodded understandingly. “Oh, well…”

“Do you believe us now,” Isabel asked.

Zorel suddenly became very serious again. He was a child, only eleven going on twelve, but he was also the defender of all the children there. It was a role he had been cast into… or had taken upon himself. Either way, making a decision about these grown-ups now was clearly taxing his emotions as well as his powers of reasoning to their limits.

“There is one more thing that you must do… to prove that you’re telling the truth,” Zorel said. He looked around at each of the adults, then he pointed at Alex. “You… come with me.”

Isabel suddenly looked terrified. “Where are you taking him?”

“It’s okay,” Alex said, giving Isabel a kiss. “I’ll be all right.”

Isabel shook her head. “Can’t I go, too?”

Zorel stopped her. “Just him.”

Isabel started to protest, but Alex shook his head. Then he walked off with Zorel and several of the other children. The children left Alyyx and Taz to watch the remaining adults. Isabel watched as the other children and Alex disappeared around a stand of trees and a small hill, then she looked at Max imploringly. Max shook his head slowly. “I think he’ll be okay, Iz. Alex can take care of himself.”

On the other side of the hill, the children took Alex into a large cave. Alex immediately noticed that all around him in the cave there were weapons sitting out in the open and totally unguarded… spears, knives, harpoons, even a laser cell disrupter… some weapons that were antiques and some weapons that had long been banned on Antar. If he had been an enemy, he could easily have used one on these children. They would be defenseless. He wondered how they could be so careless. They hadn’t impressed him as being careless before. Young, yes… Immature… yes, but careless… no. They hadn’t survived by being careless.

As Alex reached the back of the cave, he noticed someone sitting on a rock in the dark. At first, he couldn’t tell who it was, but as he drew nearer, he gasped. “Max?”

The seated figure rose and looked at Alex but didn’t say anything.

“Max, it is you! You’re alive!” Alex exclaimed, approaching the standing figure rapidly. It suddenly occurred to Alex that the children might mistake his rush to check Max out as an attack on him and try to defend him… especially if Max was hurt. But surprisingly, the children made no move whatsoever to defend him. Alex checked Max over. Other than the fact that he never spoke, he seemed to be in pretty good shape.

“Max, why are you hiding in here?” Alex asked. “If you need help to fight Kivar, we can help you. We got rid of him before… twice… in two different dimensions. We’re kind of getting good at it.” Alex chuckled, trying to lighten the atmosphere and get Max to say something.

“Are you hurt, Max? ‘Cause we can help you if you are. Our Max may be able to heal you if you can’t do it yourself. Is anybody else alive, too?”

Max still did not answer.

Suddenly, Alex noticed all the unguarded weapons lying around again and became angry. Max was obviously hurt, and these children were just standing around. Not one of them was trying to help him. And they had carelessly endangered his life and theirs with all these unguarded weapons all around. Alex turned on Zorel…

“Zorel, you’re their protector, right?”

Zorel nodded.

“Then you should know better than to leave all this stuff out in plain sight AND BRING A STRANGER IN HERE, TOO! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? I COULD BE HERE TO KILL THE KING! AND HE’S TOTALLY UNPROTECTED!” Alex was yelling. He knew it. But the total unmitigated stupidity of what he was seeing momentarily went to his head.

Zorel turned to Jiba and nodded, and Max slowly dissolved into the air. Then the weapons dissolved into the air… then the entire cave dissolved into the air. They were standing on the other side of the hill out in the open. Alex stood there, shocked.

“What… what just happened?”

“You just proved that you are who you said you are,” Zorel said. “Or at least, that you’re not our enemy. That’s all we wanted to know.”

“But…” Alex looked around. “What happened to Max?”

“He was never there,” Zorel said. “The weapons were never there either. You already seem to have figured out that our storms were an illusion.”

Alex nodded. “And the comet that was headed for us… with fireballs breaking off… one fireball went right through our truck!”

Zorel grinned and looked at Jiba. “That was a good touch, Jeeb.”

Jiba smiled.

“You kids did all that?” Alex asked, incredulous.

“Jiba did it,” Zorel said. “She can do mind warps even better than her Mom could.”

Alex nodded… “Tess… Jiba’s Tess’ daughter… That’s right!”

“After Kivar attacked us, our parents were… well, anyway… we chased Kivar off the planet with Jiba’s illusions and my powers… and the powers of the other kids in our group. Andya made some wild animals… pawgors and stuff… lots of them. They weren’t real, so when Kivar’s soldiers tried to kill them, they just kept coming. Then Jiba rained storms and lightning down on Kivar and his soldiers, and they couldn’t see to fight. They didn’t even know where it was all coming from. After they had had enough, they left Antar in a big hurry. A few times, they’ve tried to come back, but we always give them a big welcome that sends them running away again.”

“I’ve seen your welcome,” Alex said, nodding. “It would make anyone run for their life.”

“Not you apparently,” Zorel said.

“Only because we thought we were coming home… and then Varec realized that the meteor or comet or whatever it was wasn’t real…”

“I guess he would,” Zorel said. “He’s pretty smart like that.”

Alex smiled, but then his smile faded away. “It’s too bad about your parents getting killed, though.”

Zorel looked at Maya, Jiba, and the others, and they nodded.

“Come with me,” Zorel said, motioning to Alex.

“Where are we going?”

“To get the others who came with you… then to see if you can help us…”



tbc