Resistance

by Nigel G. Mitchell

(c) Copyright March 1997

This contains copyright, background, and spoiler info for the story "Resistance." I should warn readers that it will contain spoilers for this story, so those who want to maintain the surprise should read part one first, then read this after the big twist ending.

This story takes place sometime during the third season following "Exodus" and prior to "This Slide of Paradise." It incorporates changes in the series following the third season episode, "Exodus," as well as events in the second season episode "Invasion." If you don't want to find out what happened in these episodes in advance, it's recommended that you skip this story until you do.

I should mention that I've taken several liberties with this story. One is that the character of Captain Maggie Beckett (introduced on the show in the third seaosn episode "Exodus") as shown in this story is not quite the Maggie Beckett who has been portrayed on the show. It's the Maggie I think the show should have made her. My Maggie displays more of the military training she should have as a former Marine.

"Resistance" can be freely distributed with the condition that it is not modified or sold in any way. Some characters and elements of this story are the property of St. Clare Entertainment, used without authorization. The author receives no compensation from the distribution of this work.

Enjoy. :)

PART ONE

Quinn fell out of the wormhole and landed on a bed of spongy grass. When he had recovered from the impact, he rolled and stood up to take in his surroundings. He was in some sort of forest, surrounded by trees and bushes in untamed wilderness. A bird sailed overhead in the clear blue sky, chirping as it flew.

Wade, Rembrandt, and Maggie were all standing nearby. Rembrandt was busy absorbing their new environment. But Wade was glaring at Maggie, who was checking the ammo in a semiautomatic pistol.

"Wow," Rembrandt said. "We ain't slid into a forest in a long time. Are we still in San Diego?"

Quinn checked the location sensor on the timer. The display was a little fuzzy, but it straightened itself out. He wondered what was interfering with it, then decided it wasn't worth worrying about right now. "Yeah, according to the timer we are."

Rembrandt watched a rabbit hop through the grass. "Doesn't look like San Diego to me."

Maggie brushed loose grains of soil off the seat of her camouflage pants and charged over to Quinn. "We're not here to sightsee, people, we're here to find Rickman. Where is he, Mallory?"

Quinn checked the timer's display. It was growing warped again, but he could still read it. He pointed into the trees. "Right over there."

"Great." Maggie hefted her pistol and began marching into the woods.

Wade and Rembrandt exchanged a glance, then hurried after her, followed by Quinn who still nursed his aching chest.

Quinn was just pushing through the trees when he heard Maggie scream, followed by more gunshots. Then there was a blast of hot air and flashes of red light. Quinn was just in time to see Rickman's wormhole compressing into a point of red light, even as Maggie fired shots at it.

When the wormhole had faded, Maggie threw her gun to the ground. "He got away *again.* Quick, open it, Mallory, we can still catch him..."

"No." Quinn checked his timer's display. The distortion was getting worse. "We've got until tomorrow afternoon before the next slide."

Maggie stared at him, then nodded. "Well, that's great. That's just great. Thanks to your bungling in the last world, Mallory, Rickman got away. I could've finished him off once and for all, but he got away."

Quinn pointed at her. "Hey, pulling a gun and starting to shoot in the middle of a crowded store is kind of a no-no with me."

"Yeah," Rembrandt said, glaring at Maggie. "And I don't recall agreeing on killin' Rickman when we catch up to him."

Maggie tilted her head as she planted her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm sorry, Brown. I guess I didn't realize that when we caught up to Rickman, we were gonna pat him on the head and give him a lollipop. I thought the idea of this whole expedition was to stop Colonel Rickman, once and for all."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, guys. I mean, I don't agree with her shooting up that mall, but...what are we gonna do with Rickman when we find him? We can't just let him run around loose after what he's doing...and what he's already done."

Wade looked at Quinn with wide eyes. "I can't believe this. I thought we already had this conversation and we agreed on just getting the timer."

Quinn looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "You agreed. Not me. I just think it's something we should talk over a little, that's all."

He turned away to glare at Maggie. "And anyway, I'm more concerned with that gunbattle you started, Beckett. I wish you'd let us discuss what you were going to do before you did it."

Maggie tapped herself on the chest with the muzzle of her gun. "Hey, like I've said before, I follow my own rules. The rules of combat. You guys can fool around with your little sliding game all you like. I'll be busy getting the job done."

Wade shook her head. "When are you gonna learn that this isn't a war we're on?"

"The same day you learn this isn't a carnival ride," Maggie snapped.

Quinn held up his hands. "Okay, gang, we're all tired and hungry after that last world. I don't think we should have this discussion right now. Let's figure out where we are, find a place to get some dinner and catch some Z's, and talk about this in the morning."

"Okay." Wade shoved her hands into her jean pockets and turned herself in a circle. She frowned as she took in the trees and bushes encircling them. "Uh, which way?"

Quinn was about to speak when Maggie held up her hand to stop him. All three of them watched her. She looked up at the sky, silent, motionless, then nodded. Her arm stretched out and she pointed in a direction.

"I hear water flowing," Maggie said. "About twenty- four feet that way, due east. Sounds like a dam or maybe just a stream. But whatever it is, it's water. And where there's water, there's people. Let's move out." She headed off into the bushes with a military stride. Quinn raised his eyebrows at the others, then followed.

Rembrandt grinned as he pushed his way through the branches away from Wade. "Guess Maggie comes in handy sometimes, after all, huh?"

"I guess," Wade murmured, then followed.

The roar of rushing water grew louder and more audible to Quinn as he moved through the forest. He tried to keep up with Maggie, but she was in her element. She moved through the trees and bushes with quick precision, barely disturbing the branches she passed. And she was as silent as a whispering breeze.

They finally emerged along the banks of a flowing river. The bubbling water sent sunlight sparkling along its length as it flowed over rocks and into calmer pools. Maggie swept the banks with her gaze.

"It's a natural river," Maggie said. "Guess there's no city around here after all. But there's bound to be someone here somewhere, and people always build settlements near water. Human nature."

Quinn smirked as he said, "Who says there are even humans on this world?"

Maggie smirked up at him. "Don't start with the alternate reality stuff, Mallory. I'm not in the mood."

Wade emerged from the bushes and shielded her eyes to look further down the river. "Hey, I think I see someone down there."

Maggie and Quinn followed her gaze. Quinn could make out a person, draped in a long robe, hunched over the rocks along the bank of the river. The person moved like an old woman.

Wade began walking towards the stranger, but Maggie grabbed her arm and stopped her.

Wade shook off her hand as she scowled. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"We don't know what we're dealing with," Maggie said. "It could be trouble."

"Looks like it's just some old lady to me," Quinn said.

Maggie smiled up at him with exaggerated sweetness. "Well, well, now look who's judging by appearances. Old lady or not, we have to protect ourselves."

She drew her gun and hid it behind her back as she began to walk along the bank of the river.

Wade rolled her eyes and followed, saying, "You know, not every situation calls for a gun."

Maggie picked her steps carefully over the smooth rocks. "No, but it never hurts to assume they do."

The four of them trudged along the bank, listening to the chirping of the birds and the grumbling of the river, as they drew closer to the woman. Up close, Quinn could see the old woman was scrubbing a length of cloth against a rock in the running water. Her body was hunched over her work, her face covered in the hood of her robe.

Quinn was the first to reach the woman and smiled as broadly as he could. Maggie hung back behind him, the arm holding her gun tense, waiting for a reason to react. Rembrandt was stiff, too, ready to spring. Wade seemed to be trying to counteract the negative image by smiling and looking as open as she could. Quinn thought it was a good idea to do the same.

In his friendliest voice, Quinn said, "Uh, excuse me. We're new here. Wondered if you knew a place we could stay..."

The old woman froze. Water dripped from the laundry in her gnarled hands. Her head slowly turned, sunlight falling onto her face to draw away the shadows.

Her skin was a weak shade of gray. At first, Quinn thought she was deformed. Her face was twisted and cramped. Her beady eyes peered up at the Sliders over a nose that was pushed upwards into slits. Her thick lips worked over a mass of angular teeth. But she wasn't deformed at all. She wasn't human.

The others drew back at the familiar sight of her. Quinn felt a chill sweep over him. Only Wade could find the voice to say what they all were thinking.

"She's a Kromagg," she blurted.

PART TWO

Quinn, Wade, and Rembrandt all instinctively backed away from the Kromagg woman peering up at them. Only Maggie stood her ground. Her arm came out from behind her back to aim her gun at the Kromagg.

"Stay right where you are," Maggie yelled. "Drop it, hands up in the air!"

The Kromagg flinched, then carefully raised her gnarled hands, letting the cloth she was washing fall into the river. Her eyes were wide with what Quinn thought looked like fear.

Wade spun around, searching the surrounding forest with her gaze. "Are there any more around here?"

Rembrandt rested a hand on her shoulder as he took a step back. "Let's not stick around to find out, okay, gang?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Maggie snarled as she glared down the barrel of her gun to the Kromagg woman. "Not until I interrogate this ape. All right, talk. How many other Kromaggs are there on this world? Where's their base? Has the Dynasty taken over this planet or are you part of an invasion fleet?"

Wade watched the Kromagg woman with narrowing eyes. "Hey, you know...I don't think the Dynasty would send an old woman as part of an invasion fleet."

"For all we know, it could be a disguise," Maggie said. "Now talk, you throwback. Talk or I'll blow your monkey brains all over this river."

The Kromagg woman began to speak, but her voice emerged as a series of screeching chirps and howls. It reminded Quinn of the frenzied chatter of monkeys he'd seen in nature documentaries, except this seemed more structured. As the Kromagg spoke, her hands gestured wildly, pointing at the clothes in the river, then herself, then out into the woods.

"Oh, great," Wade said. "Are you happy now? You've scared the poor thing to death and she can't even speak English."

Maggie kept her eyes fixed on the creature as she snarled, "That's what they'd like us to think."

Wade gestured towards the woman. "Oh, come on! What's with you? Can't you see it's just an old woman? She's not even armed."

"Not armed with any weapons I can see," Maggie snapped. "But you told me these things are masters of deception. This is all just a trick, can't you see that?"

Quinn stepped forward, between Maggie and the elderly Kromagg, blocking her shot with his body. "All right, calm down. Now Maggie's right in one way, I don't think this Kromagg is here alone. So let's just get out of here before any others show up." "I'm with you, Q-Ball," Rembrandt said. "Right now, any place without a Kromagg in sight sounds good to me. Let's go."

He backed up, then strode towards the tree line behind him. Something emerged from the branches in his path. It was another Kromagg, this time a male, peering at him from under the hood of a robe.

Rembrandt froze. "Uh, guys? We got company."

Maggie swung her gun around to aim at the newcomer Kromagg. Then Wade lunged back as another Kromagg stepped out in front of her, also draped in a long brown robe. It was carried a large wooden staff that it supported itself on as it peered cautiously at her. Maggie aimed at him, then switched back to the first Kromagg, then spun to aim at the old woman.

Her face screwed up in confusion. "We're surrounded."

Then the forest rustled again. And three more Kromagg males joined the first two, all dressed in robes. Maggie backed away from them, aiming at them, then bolted into the river. As she splashed through the pools of water, five more Kromaggs emerged from the trees on the opposite bank. Maggie fell over onto her hands and knees into the water. She propped herself up and just glared up at them.

"We're surrounded," she whispered.

Wade moved closer to Quinn, pressing herself against his side. He put his arm around her, trying to keep his expression neutral, as he watched more Kromaggs step out into the open.

Within a few seconds, at least twenty Kromaggs had formed a circle around the Sliders. All of them were wearing green or brown robes. Some carried staffs. Others supported baskets of fruit on their heads. All of them stood and stared at Quinn, Wade, Maggie, and Rembrandt.

"Great," Rembrandt murmured. "A million worlds to choose from, and we had to slide into a Kromagg convention."

Maggie sat up, water dripping from her arms, and brought up her gun to aim at one of them. Then she looked down at the water drizzling from the barrel. Her shoulders sagged.

"Waterlogged," she whispered, then clamped her jaw.

She stood, tucked the gun into the holster at her waist, and raised her arms as she bent her legs. Maggie assumed a defensive pose, facing the Kromaggs across the bank.

"Okay," she snarled. "But you won't get me without a fight."

Quinn held up a hand at her. "Wait a minute...they're not attacking. They're just staring at us."

He looked deeply into the faces of the Kromaggs surrounding him. All of them radiated the same mixture of confusion, curiosity, and something else he couldn't identify. But the one thing he didn't see was anger.

Rembrandt turned in a circle to take in the creatures surrounding him. "Uh, hey, guys. We, uh...we didn't mean to interrupt anything, you guys are obviously busy Kromaggs, so, uh...we'll just be on our way, okay?"

One of the Kromaggs with a tuft of white fur on its chin raised a twisted arm and squealed in quick bursts of noise. It pointed at Wade, then Maggie, and squealed again.

Wade looked up at Quinn, then back at the Kromagg. "What...what's it saying?"

The other Kromaggs began to murmur among themselves in their primate language. The Kromagg with the white beard spoke again, but this time it was a single word.

"Mah-ree," it growled, then yelled the word again. "Mah-ree!" It clapped its hands and pointed at Wade.

The other Kromaggs began to chatter to each other. The circle moved away from the Sliders as one. Maggie's pose eased as she glared at them.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Mah-ree," Wade whispered, then looked at the others. "That sounds like...Mary..."

The Kromagg with the staff lifted a hand and pushed back the hood of his robe to expose his face. He looked carefully at Wade. Then he raised a hand and spoke a few sentences in Kromagg, followed by a speech in clear English.

"No," the Kromagg said in a loud voice. "They are not Dynasty. This is not the Homo Sapien called Mary." He faced Wade. "Who are you people?"

Wade smiled. "You speak English..."

"You are not from the Dynasty," the Kromagg said. "But there are no Homo Sapien on this Earth. Who are you? Where do you come from?"

Just as Quinn was about to speak, more Kromaggs broke through the walls of the forest. But these were different. They wore no robes, but the black skintight uniform that Quinn was used to seeing on Kromagg soldiers. And these Kromaggs carried the small rectangular energy weapons that Quinn was also used to seeing. But some of them were also carrying ropes and whips.

The new Kromaggs launched themselves at the robed Kromaggs. The circle fell apart as the uniformed Kromaggs began shooting the robed Kromaggs with their weapons, cutting down robed Kromaggs that tried to escape.

One of the uniformed Kromaggs had its shoulders decorated with an intricate gold pattern. It stood apart from the attack, watching with its cold beady eyes.

Quinn lunged back as some of the uniformed Kromaggs turned on him. He released Wade to punch one of them, but another came up behind him and drove a fist into his ribs. Quinn doubled over in pain, and a boot knocked into his head to drive him to the ground.

Quinn looked up at see Wade and Rembrandt putting up a similar fight with similar results. Within seconds, they were on the ground, nursing injuries.

Only Maggie was still standing. She ducked a Kromagg who swung a fist at her, and spun a foot into his jaw in a karate kick. Then her fist came up almost on instinct to slam into the face of a Kromagg behind her. One tried to grab her arm, but Maggie flipped it into three more. Through it all, Maggie bared her teeth in a snarl.

"Come on!" she yelled. "Who wants some?"

The Kromagg with the embroidered shoulders drew a small boxlike object from his belt and aimed it at Maggie. Before Quinn could blurt a warning, the Kromagg had pressed a button on the object.

Maggie's knees suddenly buckled. She collapsed into the river, struggling to fight, but couldn't even raise her head. Quinn recognized it as the work of the Kromagg gravity weapon. With the push of a button, the Kromagg had increased Maggie's weight to near- crushing levels. When she was down, the other uniformed Kromaggs descended on her.

The fight was over. The uniformed Kromaggs forced Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt, and Maggie to kneel in a line before the Kromagg leader. Quinn glanced over his shoulder to see the robed Kromaggs were being shoved into a line as well. The robed ones bore all the abuse the soldiers heaped on them, their heads bowed and meek.

Wade watched them and frowned. "What's going on here? Why is the Dynasty treating their own so badly?"

"You know," Rembrandt said, "I'm startin' to get the feeling that these other Kromaggs...ain't good buddies with the Dynasty."

PART THREE

The Kromagg with the gold embroidery glared down at Quinn, its back straight and its hands folded behind its back. Then it spoke in a chattering primate language like the old woman had earlier. Quinn just stared at it. The Kromagg began to screech louder at him.

"Let him go, you stupid ape," Maggie yelled. "Can't you see he can't understand you?"

The leader of the Kromagg soldiers turned its beady eyes onto her. Then it snarled, "So, you speak the Homo Sapien tongue known as English. I will speak it as well. And you will answer. Who are you? How did you get on this world?"

Maggie smirked. "We clicked our heels together and said 'There's no place like home.'"

The Kromagg leader turned its gaze onto Quinn. "Are you members of the Resistance?"

"No," Quinn said with a calm expression. "But if you'll give us directions, we'd be happy to sign up."

The Kromagg leader reached out a hand and gestured towards the four humans bound in front of him. Kromagg soldiers charged forward and began searching the clothes and pockets of Quinn, Wade, Maggie, and Rembrandt. Despite his attempts to keep them away, one of the Kromaggs plunged a hand into Quinn's jacket and pulled out the timing device.

The Kromagg took it to the leader, who examined it with cautious movements as he said, "I have never seen a sliding remote device constructed like this before. It is not a Dynasty device. And it is not of the Resistance."

The leader worked his jaw, grinding his malformed teeth, then snarled, "Very well. You will be kept in confinement with the others until tomorrow morning, when a Manta Cruiser will arrive to transport you to Earth 113 for interrogation. Take them to the Greymoon Compound."

He fixed his glare on the robed Kromaggs. "All of them."

The Kromagg soldiers moved in on the row of robed Kromaggs and began to push and shove them into the forest. The soldiers grabbed the Sliders and began to force them along as well in a line along with the Kromaggs.

Quinn trudged through the wild untamed undergrowth, trying to avoid the soldiers that kept pushing him. As he walked, he caught the eye of the robed Kromagg with the staff. The Kromagg looked at him cautiously and Quinn saw that one of his eyes was milky-white.

Quinn waited until the soldiers guarding him were out of earshot, then whispered, "You speak English."

"Yes," the Kromagg murmured. "I have learned over five hundred of the most common languages from various worlds so that I would be able to converse with members of the Resistance if we ever made contact with them."

Wade moved in closer to the Kromagg, whispering, "You mean you're not members of the Dynasty?"

"No," the Kromagg said. "We are slaves of the Dynasty, prisoners like you."

"That's crazy," Maggie said. "The Dynasty brings all other Kromagg races on other worlds into it. Why would they enslave you?"

"Because we are not like them," the Kromagg said, then looked up. "I will explain it further later."

Quinn was about to press on further until he realized they were approaching a cleared-out section of the woods. More robed Kromaggs walked through the clearing, hauling baskets and tree branches. The clearing was dominated by wooden huts arranged in expanding circles. The circles converged on a large stone statue of a Kromagg in the village center.

The Kromagg soldiers led the Sliders and the robed ones to the edge of the clearing. One of them pulled out a clear plastic card that Quinn recognized from his time in a Kromagg prison. It was a key for opening one of their force fields. As he suspected, the Kromagg swept the card through the air, and the village seemed to flicker as an invisible force field around it collapsed.

The soldiers gestured with their weapons and Quinn joined his friends and the robed Kromaggs as they shuffled into the village. Once they passed a certain perimeter, the soldier swept the card through the air again. Quinn watched the air shimmer and hum as the force-field came into existence once again.

When the field was up, the Kromagg soldiers shuffled off into the forest again. Quinn thought he could make out a settlement on the horizon where they were headed, then reared back as a large vehicle shaped like a manta ray rose up from the treeline.

It hovered in the sky for a moment, then shot out a beam of light that pierced a cloud and collapsed it into a red hole in space. The Manta Cruiser flew into the hole, which imploded in its wake with a roar.

"They are on their way to Earth 113," the Kromagg with the staff growled. "They will return."

The Kromagg swept his gaze over Quinn, Maggie, Rembrandt, and Wade. "I am known as Anguhra."

Quinn introduced himself and the others. Anguhra's beady eyes lingered on Wade.

"Only one Homo Sapien female has ever been on this world," Anguhra said. "Mary, the traitorous lackey of the Dynasty. That is why this small, black-haired female upset our people so. She resembles Mary, and we fear her return."

"Well, I'm not her," Wade said, hugging herself. "And we're not too crazy about seeing her again either."

Maggie planted her hands on her hips. "Okay, how do we get out of this place?"

"You do not," Anguhra said. "This entire village has been encased in a bubble of a force-field. Impenetrable. Unbreakable."

Maggie closed her eyes and murmured under her breath. "Terrific. There's got to be a way out."

Anguhra gestured with his staff towards the Kromagg statue in the center of the village. "I believe our leader, Ghindel, can answer your questions better than I. He has made a study of the history of our people. Come."

Anguhra led the way through the village. Quinn followed, trying not to stare too hard at the Kromaggs that wandered the settlement performing various tasks. Some of them were hammering and lashing towards wood into tools and buildings. Others hauled large sheets of rock from one place to another.

Anguhra watched them with sunken eyes. "When the Dynasty came, they turned us into slaves, forced to mine and harvest the resources from our own world to feed the never-ending hunger of the Dynasty. When they have stripped this planet bare...they will slaughter us all."

"This is an incredible operation," Maggie said. "How many of you are on this world?"

Anguhra stepped around a large pit dug out of the ground. "Almost two billion."

"And how many troops does the Dynasty have here?"

Anguhra squinted up at the sky in thought. "I believe the last count was a little less than one million."

"One million?" Maggie yelled, so loud that a few Kromaggs around her lunged back and chattered in fear. "That's it? Are you insane? Why haven't you stopped the Dynasty from taking over? What's wrong with you people?"

Anguhra pointed at the center of the village with his staff. "Ask Ghindel."

Now that they were close, Quinn could see the statue more clearly. It was huge, towering over the entire village. It depicted a Kromagg male wearing an ornate robe. He looked out on the horizon with a calm expression on his simian face.

A large group of Kromaggs was gathered, kneeling, at the statue's feet. They were all looking at another Kromagg who wore a similar robe to the statue's subject, but had a braid of white hair running down his head.

The old Kromagg was speaking in a low, gentle voice that drifted back to Quinn on the humid air. Anguhra began to speak, and Quinn realized he was translating the old Kromagg's words into English.

"Maozeu knew this," the old Kromagg was saying. "He knew that anger is the gravel that paves the road to death. In his twenty-third scroll, he spoke of the Burning Time and taught us how to control it. In this way, our people flourished and were able to concentrate not on our bestial urges, but on the light that leads us to inner peace."

As Anguhra walked closer, the old Kromagg looked up at him with a smile. He began to squeal in the Kromagg language. Anguhra glanced at Quinn, saying, "He says I'm his most promising student and that it's a shame I had to leave so quickly. They had a fascinating discussion on the forty-fifth scroll." Anguhra bowed at the waist, kneeling slightly with his staff pointing outwards. "Forgive me, Master Ghindel, for leaving and for speaking this foreign tongue. But there was a disturbance at the river. These four have joined us from another world, and they only comprehend the Homo Sapien tongue known as English."

Ghindel turned his gaze onto the Sliders. His small but gentle eyes looked over Rembrandt, then Wade. His eyes lingered on Maggie, then turned to focus on Quinn.

"Homo Sapien," Ghindel said in English. "Interesting. Why did the Dynasty bring them here?"

"They did not," Anguhra said. "They are apparently rogues."

"That's right," Quinn said. "We're sliders. We're looking through other dimensions for a man named Colonel Rickman. He slid into this world, but unfortunately he left before we could catch up to him. And now we're trapped here until tomorrow."

Ghindel nodded. "It appears the rumors about other interdimensional travelers besides the Dynasty are true after all."

"Yes," Anguhra said. "That rumor is true. Who knows what others are true?"

"Patience, Anguhra," Ghindel murmured. "There will be a time for that."

Anguhra's face collapsed in annoyance, his heavy brow casting a shadow over his eyes. "Well...they will be detained here by the Dynasty and are scheduled to be taken to Earth 113. They wish to know the history of our people, and I told them you would speak it best."

Ghindel knelt to a small gong mounted on the feet on the statue. He knocked it with his hand, causing a soft chime to ring around the village. Then he chirped something in Kromagg. The sitting Kromaggs murmured the same phrase, then shuffled off into the village. Ghindel walked towards the Sliders, beckoning with a twisted hand.

"Come, Homo Sapiens," he said. "You four have much to learn."

PART FOUR

Ghindel took the staff from Anguhra and began to limp away from the statue in the center of the village. Anguhra followed at a respectful distance, and Wade and Rembrandt did the same. Maggie folded her arms and moved after them. "Okay," she said, "what's the story with this place?"

Ghindel swept his gaze over the other Kromaggs wandering and working in the village. A look of sadness and longing descended over his ape-like features.

"Our ancient history," Ghindel said, "tells of a time when we were not the only intelligent race on Earth. But our ancestors slaughtered all others until we were the only ones left."

"Right," Maggie said. "You're evolutionary throwbacks. You Kromaggs killed off all the other prehistoric races, including the ones that developed into humans."

Ghindel stopped and turned to look up at the statue that loomed overhead. "Yes. But our history varies from that of other Kromagg worlds. Because of the great Maozeu. He was a mighty warrior who was injured in battle. As he lay on the battlefield, he saw the future and the past, all at once. He saw the millennia of slaughter and bloodshed. And he saw the end...the destruction of this planet and our race. And for the first time, he saw the futility of war and hatred and violence."

Anguhra was watching the old Kromagg speak from the back of the group, but now turned away. He strode over to where a group of Kromaggs were struggling to raise a wooden beam. He began shouting orders and moving them around.

Maggie folded her arms over her chest. "So this guy had a hallucination. How does that end up with a whole planet letting a couple million people run roughshod over them?"

Ghindel broke his gaze from the statue and settled his tiny, piercing eyes onto Maggie. "Maozeu recovered a changed man. From then on, he dedicated his life to peace. And he began to find others who saw that his course was just and wise. Others who joined him in a path of nonviolence and vegetarianism..."

"Vegetarianism?" Rembrandt asked. "I thought Kromaggs were on a strict diet of human eyeballs."

Ghindel chuckled. "If you mean that Kromaggs were carnivorous...yes, we were. Maozeu was the first to discover that our people could survive on plants alone. Before then, we believed that fruits and vegetables were fit only for lower lifeforms, and therefore avoided them."

Quinn watched Anguhra as he gestured and guided the Kromaggs to raise the beam. In their new arrangement, the Kromaggs were lifting the beam with ease. A Kromagg was standing on the roof of a hut, and reached down to take hold of one end of the beam.

Quinn spoke up, keeping his eyes on Anguhra. "You mean up until that point no Kromagg had ever considered the idea that you were omnivorous?"

"Correct," Ghindel said. "He was a genius. His teachings were transcribed into scrolls...and all over the country people began to change...then his teachings spread to the entire world."

Quinn nodded, thinking. He was developing a theory about this world. He spotted a basket of pears nearby and cautiously plucked one out and began turning it over in his hands.

Then he looked back at the laboring Kromaggs, who were finally managing to get the beam up onto the roof. Anguhra watched them work with a satisfied smile.

Ghindel took one last look at the statue overshadowing him, then began to shuffle away again, leaning heavily on his staff. "Maozeu transformed our world, reversing millennia of hatred. Within one hundred years, the people of this world were living in harmony. Then, on the day when the final treaty was signed that would have created world peace...the Dynasty came. They tried to convince us to join their empire of blood, telling us about the brutal, savage Homo Sapiens that needed to be cleansed from the multiverse, but we refused. We were no longer interested in bloodshed. So they enslaved us instead."

Rembrandt shook his head, watching a row of robed Kromaggs walk through the village with bowed heads. "Man. A world full o' peaceful Kromaggs. Never thought I'd see the day."

"It's so horrible," Wade said in a low voice. "Why wouldn't they just leave you alone? Leave you without sliding technology and move on?"

Anguhra walked back over to Ghindel and the others, saying, "Because the Dynasty wants to keep us under control. They want to keep anyone else from finding out about us and helping us. The Dynasty fears us."

"He is right," Ghindel said. "The Dynasty fears us because our peaceful ideals could infect the other Kromaggs in the empire. Maozeu's way can be very persuasive."

"They fear us for another reason," Anguhra growled. "They fear us because we are just as strong and cunning and powerful as the other Kromaggs in the Dynasty, but we aren't blinded by rage and hatred like them. They fear us because we can stop them. If we ever worked against them."

"And why don't you?" Maggie asked.

Ghindel looked at her and allowed his thick lips to curl into a smile. "You are like Anguhra. He only knows anger and oppression. He is young and high-spirited. He does not understand the way of peace."

"I understand all right," Anguhra snarled. "I understand that I have spent most of my life watching my world being crushed by the Dynasty. I understand that my mother and father and sister were killed for the crime of trying to save enough grain from the harvest for a loaf of bread to keep from starving. I understand that we outnumber the Dynasty, that we have the power and resources to end this nightmare, and that instead...we do *nothing.*"

Ghindel stopped walking with a sigh and turned to look at the horizon. The sun was hanging low over the trees as it began to set. "You refuse to face it, Anguhra. To fight the Kromaggs, we would have to revert back to the old ways. We cannot do that. I have tried so hard to help you understand that the peace and serenity our people have attained over the last century is more important than the Dynasty or revenge."

"More important than our lives?" Anguhra yelled.

Ghindel watched the clouds burning scarlet in the distance, then whispered, "Yes. That will be our revenge. Our legacy. We will show the Dynasty that someone can stand up to them through passive non-resistance. That an entire empire can be defied through peace instead of war. Maozeu's Way will forever be remembered through us."

Maggie spoke up from the back of the group. She was glaring at Ghindel with eyes that were wide and burning with anger. "I can't believe you would let all these people suffer and die just to cling to some outdated philosophy. Can't you see that you're being exploited? Your high-and-mighty Maozeu is going to end up getting you all slaughtered."

Ghindel nodded, his eyes still on the setting sun. "That is the way it must be."

"But what about us?" Maggie asked. "We're in real trouble here. If we get taken to Earth 113, we're never gonna get out. We need to get off this world and out of their control. Can't you put aside your little philosophies long enough to help us out? Isn't that hospitality?"

Ghindel turned his gaze onto Maggie. "Yes. It is. I will speak with our captors and see if I can convince them to release you."

Maggie laughed sardonically and threw up her hands. "Oh, sure. That'll work. Why didn't my friends think of that the last time they met the Kromaggs, just asking them nicely if they wouldn't mind leaving their eyeballs in their sockets?"

Ghindel was unmoved as he said, "Nonviolent solutions exist for every situation. Often, the power of the tongue is more powerful than any weapon..."

"Save it, okay?" Maggie yelled. "I'm not gonna stand here and let you and your ideals get us killed. I'm getting out of here, right now, with or without your help."

Maggie spun on her heel and charged away from Ghindel and the others, into the trees that surrounded the village. Quinn tossed the pear in his hand back into the basket and charged after her.

"Maggie!" he yelled. "Wait a second! We've gotta stick together!"

He heard Wade yelling at him from behind her and paused to look back at her. He saw the fear and confusion in her eyes, but he couldn't stop to reassure her. He didn't know what Maggie planned to do, but he had learned from experience that she could never be trusted to do the right thing. He had to be there to help her, just like he would have been for Wade or Rembrandt or the Professor. Because he was responsible for all of them. Even the ones he didn't like.

So he turned away and pretended not to hear Wade's pleas as he rushed into the womb of the forest.

PART FIVE

"Quinn!" Wade yelled as she watched him charge away. "Wait up!"

But if Quinn heard her, he didn't answer. She watched Quinn run off into the trees after Maggie. They both disappeared into the forest.

"I can't believe it," Wade said. "Why's he chasing after Maggie like that?"

Rembrandt shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Guess he's worried about her. You know how impulsive she gets. Maggie could get herself in trouble on this world."

"Well, so what? What else is new? Maggie's a big girl, she can take of herself. She doesn't need Quinn's help or anyone else's. If she gets in trouble, it's her own fault."

Wade turned away, trying to calm the discomfort in her heart at seeing Quinn chasing after a virtual stranger and leaving his friends behind. There was a time when Quinn had cared for her that much, and would have charged off to save her just as quickly. Now Wade was being left behind, both figuratively and now literally. It did nothing to calm her fears about what was going to happen to her on this world.

Then she noticed Ghindel staring at her. The old man's simian features were tightened into a strange expression, his beady eyes studying her intently.

"There is much anger within you four," Ghindel said. "I sensed it most on the ones you call Quinn and Maggie. But there is some within you as well. You have a pain that has gone unresolved."

Wade could only lower her eyes to the dusty ground. Rembrandt came up alongside her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah," Rembrandt said, "we, uh...lost somebody a while back. A good friend. It's hitting all of us pretty hard."

Ghindel nodded. "Maozeu's Way teaches us the four hundred and eighty-two unique varieties of suffering and how to recognize them in others. There is the Chiree'a, pain of loss, within you four, but there is also Charaay, the pain of conflict. And the Chireen, the pain of revenge. But the Charaay is strongest within you, young female."

Wade raised her eyes and looked at Ghindel from under a length of her red hair that fell over her eyes. His words were sinking deep into her, bringing a pain up to the surface of her soul that she desperately tried to push away.

Ghindel stretched out a hand that was hooked and twisted like an ape's, but rested on the side of her neck with a surprisingly gentle touch. "You must release this pain. Do not fight it. Pain ferments within the body into an alcohol that clouds the senses. That is what Maozeu teaches us, to release the pain."

Wade nodded, then brushed away something wet that was forming on her cheek as she forced a smile. "You seem so at peace. I've been looking for that kind of peace for a long, long time."

"I know you have," Ghindel said. "If only you were here with us long enough, I would teach you some of Maozeu's Way. It would help calm you."

Wade broke into a smile and looked up at Rembrandt, who grinned down at her. Wade nodded. "Yeah, that... that would've been nice."

Anguhra walked past them towards the trees where Quinn and Maggie had disappeared. "I will recover your friends. This country can be dangerous, even within our own village."

Ghindel propped his staff on the ground ahead of him and began to walk away. "And I will speak to the Dynasty representatives. Perhaps my words can have an impact on your fates after all."

"Thank you," Wade called after him, then looked up at Rembrandt. "Wow...these people seem so at peace with themselves. I've never seen anything like it."

Rembrandt looked over the village around him. "Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Makes you wonder what their lives would be like if they hadn't gotten suckered by the Kromaggs."

Wade rubbed her arms as a chill wind swept through the air, rustling clothes and baskets around her. "I know what it would be like. It would be paradise."

* * *

Quinn crashed through the bushes and trees. He could hear Maggie moving ahead of him, no longer with her usual care and skill. She was charging through the untamed wilderness at full speed.

Then her footsteps halted. And Quinn heard a loud crackling noise, followed by a cry of pain. It was quickly followed by another crackle and scream. And another.

Quinn pushed away some branches to see Maggie was rushing forwards, a broken tree limb in her hands. She rammed the wooden stick into something invisible that sent bolts of static flashing over the stick and her body. She staggered back, grit her teeth, and threw herself at it again with the same result.

Quinn ran up to her and grabbed her arm, jerking her back. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like, Mallory?" Maggie asked. "I'm trying to get us out of here."

"By throwing yourself at the field?"

Maggie shook her head and glared at the shimmering field in front of her. "No. I can feel it getting weaker every time I hit it. I think I can drain it if I hit it enough times."

Maggie raised the branch again, but Quinn stopped her by grabbing the end of it. "No, you're gonna kill yourself that way."

Maggie lowered the branch. "Well, if that's the price I have to pay to get out of this place, then that's what I'll do."

Quinn pulled the branch out of her hands and threw it to the ground. Then he glared down at her for a few seconds before saying, "Okay, come on. What's really bothering you?"

Maggie jerked her head back as if she had been slapped. "What are you talking about?"

"This is about more than the force field. You've had an attitude ever since we got here. I saw you during Ghindel's speech. There's something bothering you more than being trapped in here."

Maggie looked up at him, then turned away. She folded her arms over her chest and walked a few steps, her back hunched. When she finally spoke, it was in a low voice that Quinn could barely hear.

"All my life," she said, "I've been a part of the military, and the military has been a part of me. The Marines aren't just my job. They're who I am. I love my work. I love my country. And I love combat."

Maggie turned her head slightly so Quinn could see just past her hair to one of her eyes. It was softer and more vulnerable than he had ever seen on her. "But all my life, I've had to face the bleeding hearts, the peace-lovers, who called me a murderer and a monster for the crime of saving their lives and homes."

Her eye turned harsh for a moment, then she turned away. "They don't understand. Nobody understands, not them, Wade, not these Kromaggs...there's a difference between cruelty and violence for their own sakes, and defending yourself. Standing up for what's right. That's what I did all my life. And that's what these people won't do."

She spun to face Quinn, her eyes blazing once more with their usual anger. "And that's why these people are gonna get killed and take us with them. Because they're too stupid to realize that it's one thing to say you're gonna be kind to all creatures and love your fellow man, and it's another thing when your fellow man is holding a gun to your head, getting ready to blow it off. Sometimes, you need to take a stand. You need to fight. That's the reality, Mallory, and seeing these people fooling themselves into clinging to some old Kromagg's outdated philosophies when they could be doing something to get themselves out of it...it just drives me *nuts.*"

Maggie ran both hands up through her hair, her lips curled in a snarl as she growled in frustration.

"I know," Quinn said. "I can't say I like it either. But we've gotta get out of here, and these Kromaggs have been here longer than we have. They know how things work. Maybe it'll work out after all. And if it doesn't... we'll try something else."

Maggie glared up at him. "Oh, really, Mallory? And when exactly will we try that? When the Dynasty straps us into an electric chair? We need a plan, Mallory, something of our own that doesn't depend on these people. A plan of action."

Anguhra pushed his way past a fern to stand before Quinn and Maggie. He shifted his small, piercing grey eyes from one to the other as he said, "I have that plan."

PART SIX

Maggie glared at the robed Kromagg who stood before them, not bothering to hide her suspicion. "What kind of plan?"

"A plan of action," Anguhra said. "One that is driven by deeds, not murmuring over ancient and musty scrolls. A plan that I have been working with my people to create for some time."

Maggie unfolded her arms as she glanced up at Quinn. "You don't sound like the other Kromaggs."

"No, I am not like Ghindel," Anguhra said. "As much as he would like me to be. I believe in Maozeu's Way, but do not think it applies to our life under the Dynasty. Once we have freed this planet from the Dynasty and are in control of our lives once more, then we can return to pursuing peace. Until then, the Way only allows the Dynasty to exploit us."

Anguhra brushed off a fallen log and sat down on it. He reached under his robe and pulled out a dried brown strip that he began to chew on. "That's meat," Quinn said.

"Yes," Anguhra said around a mouthful. "Some of us have grown tired of denying our bodies' need for meat. And we have grown tired of reciting chants and waiting for the Dynasty to kill us so we can become martyrs. We are working to overthrow the Kromagg Dynasty and get them off our planet."

Anguhra clenched a fist. "We have been working in secret to avoid Ghindel and the other Maozeu followers who would turn us in to the Dynasty if they found out. We gathered tools and supplies for years. We even managed to recover a shipment of weapons. Through contact with other villages, we have organized millions of us around the globe. The stage is set for an overthrow of the Dynasty at last."

Maggie walked over and sat down next to Anguhra on the log. She reached over, peeled off some of the meat, and popped it into her mouth.

She spoke around the meat in her mouth. "How?"

Anguhra watched her eat, then said, "We have heard rumors about a group of renegade Homo Sapiens who travel the portals between worlds. The Dynasty fears you because they cannot control you. And they fear that there are others like you. So they have been working to find a way to stop you and other...sliders, as you call them...from entering their worlds."

Quinn sat down on the other side of the log next to Anguhra. His scientific curiosity was getting the better of him. "How?"

"I do not pretend to understand it," Anguhra said. "It has something to do with the force that keeps us on the ground. The Kromaggs can alter this, and have developed a machine to change the force on this planet so that portals cannot be opened without their permission. They call it the Fortress Field."

Quinn nodded. "Of course, that makes sense. The Einstein- Rosen-Podolsky Bridge is opened with a strong gravitational field. I think the Kromaggs have found a way to alter this Earth's gravitational field so that a Bridge can't be opened inside of it. That would keep anyone from sliding into it, like locking a door."

Maggie nodded, then said, "Anguhra, how does that help us?"

"The Dynasty's advantage has always been numbers," Anguhra said. "Any resistance we could put against them would be drowned in a matter of minutes. We could never bring together an army large enough because they can summon billions of reinforcements from a thousand worlds in seconds. Likewise, we would run out of weapons, ammunition, and equipment while the Dynasty could transport a fleet of Manta Cruisers large enough to blot out the sun in the time it takes to inhale one breath. We are no match for their resources. We know it, and they know we know it, which is why they only station enough soldiers and equipment on this world to maintain a minimum of control."

"But this Fortress Field," Anguhra continued, "could be used to lock out the Dynasty and prevent them from backing up their troops on this world. An experimental version of the machine is stationed only a short distance from our village, which is why our focus has remained on this area for the attack. We stand the best chance of taking control."

"Fantastic," Quinn said. "A device capable of manipulating the gravitational field of an entire planet...something like that could change the world."

"Yeah, sure could," Maggie asked. "But I'm more interested in how it gets us out of here."

"How'll it work?" Maggie asked. Her eyes were wide and almost glazed over as she studied the Kromagg next to her.

Anguhra picked up a branch and began drawing diagrams in the dust. "The plan has been carefully thought out. At the moon's highest point in the sky every night, the Dynasty refreshes its garrison of soldiers on this coastal region. At that point where the Manta transports leave and new transports arrive, the Dynasty is at its weakest here in terms of manpower."

Anguhra continued to draw circles in the dirt. "At this point is when we should strike. The Field generator will be at its most vulnerable. However, the Dynasty knows they are weakest here and locks us in cages for the night, in addition to erecting the force field around the village. The force field is no longer a barrier, thanks to Ghindel's key..."

"Key?" Maggie asked. "Ghindel has a key to the Kromagg force field?"

Anguhra nodded. "Yes. It was given to him last harvest so that he can gather supplies and medicine from the Dynasty storehouses for our village without bothering the guards. He can open the field any time he wishes, a reward for his...loyal service." His last two words almost dripped with disgust. Maggie closed her eyes and Quinn could see the muscles in her jaw and neck clench as she struggled to control her temper. She finally choked out, "So why doesn't he just open the field and let us out?"

"You saw him," Anguhra growled. "He is blinded by visions of peace and serenity. He wants us to die so we can become martyrs. He will not give us the key, and he only uses it at night when we are all in cages and cannot follow him to find out where he hides it."

Anguhra drew some quick symbols on the ground that Quinn assumed was diagrams of the village and the Field generator. He began tracing lines between them. "The plan is simple. We get out of our cages at night, get Ghindel's key, open the force field, and reach the gravity machine. Once we activate it, the Dynasty will be unable to send reinforcements and our forces can easily overthrow the remaining forces here on our Earth."

Anguhra drew some more symbols. "Only two obstacles stand between us and revolution. One is the operation of the generator. None of us is skilled enough to operate such a device."

Maggie looked up at Quinn and smiled. "Hey, Mallory, think you could apply that brain of yours to this?"

Quinn studied the diagrams, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, my sliding machine was capable of generating gravitational fields. I think this machine is just a larger and more complex version, maybe incorporating some electromagnetic..."

Maggie smirked. "Uh, Mallory? Simple yes or no?"

Quinn grinned. "Sorry. Short answer is, yeah, I think I can do it."

Maggie nodded with a smile. "Great." Quinn couldn't help noticing she seemed like she was in a better mood. Maybe because escape lay in their grasp.

Anguhra put down the branch and reached into his robe again. "Excellent. Then only one barrier remains. The cages the Dynasty uses have doors sealed with a device that we have failed to beat. We have dismantled several in hopes of finding their secret, only to suffer defeat. Perhaps you, who are from another world that is more technologically- advanced, may succeed."

He held out a small metal object that consisted of various interlocking parts. Maggie took it from the Kromagg's curled hands and turned it over in her fingers. The smile widened across her face. Then she handed it back to Anguhra with a superior air.

"No problem," Maggie said. "It's a simple tumbler lock. I've picked millions, some of them ten times more complicated than this one. All I need are two thin pieces of metal I use to slip into the keyhole here, and I can open it in five seconds or less."

Anguhra slipped the lock into his robe as he climbed to his feet. "I knew that your arrival on this world would bring us success."

"Not so fast," Quinn said. "We have to talk about this with Wade and Rembrandt."

"What for?" Maggie asked.

Quinn leaned over to look at her. "Because we're all in this together, Beckett. I thought you'd have figured it out by now. We're a team."

Maggie stood up and brushed leaves off her pants. "All I've figured out is how badly you guys have needed someone to straighten you out. But fine, we'll talk to the others, although I don't understand why they wouldn't want to get out of this place."

Anguhra nodded and drew the hood of his robe over his head. "Very well, consult with the others. If you agree, we will execute the plan at the moon's highest point tonight. Speak not of this plan to Ghindel or any others who follow him."

Anguhra tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robe and slipped off into the wilderness. Maggie watched him go, then drew her pistol from her belt. She examined the cylinder, then jammed it back under her belt.

"Still waterlogged," she murmured. "I'll have to get a new gun on the next world. Meanwhile, Rickman's getting away with who-knows-what. This is not how I pictured my adventures in sliding."

Maggie hooked her thumbs on her belt and jerked her head towards the village. "Okay, Mallory...let's go do the teamwork thing."

PART SEVEN

Wade and Rembrandt walked through the Kromagg village, watching the natives move through the streets and huts. Some worked hauling bags of grain or fruits to bins. Others worked hammering and fortifying the homes. But closer to the center of the village, Wade had found living nearer to what it must have been like for these peaceful beings before the Dynasty arrived.

Kromagg children ran and played games in clearings set aside for it. Wade smiled as she watched one of them carrying a stick and being chased by the others in an apparent game of keep-away. A baby Kromagg waddled around in a diaper made of leaves as its mother coaxed it along.

"They're so cute," Wade laughed.

Rembrandt smiled and nodded as they passed. "Yeah, never thought I'd say that about the Kromaggs."

Wade walked under the shade of a tree and leaned against the trunk. She looked out at a row of trees that stretched and twisted in bizarre shapes, their branches being tended and pruned by Kromagg women.

"Yeah," Wade said. "Me either. I never dreamed a world could exist where the Kromaggs weren't trying to kill everybody. Here, they're just like us. Maybe even better."

Rembrandt leaned against the tree next to her and looked through the branches above them at the clouds rolling overhead. "Yeah, it's nice. If it weren't for the Dynasty, I might think about stayin' here."

A Kromagg draped in a long red robe approached them, smiling with her broad lips. Her hood was down, exposing a braid of red hair running down from her bald, grey head.

The Kromagg put her hands together and bowed her head. "Please excusing my English. It not good. But Ghindel tell me to escort you through village. I am called Eska. Ghindel think you want to know about us and way of life."

"That would be great," Wade said. "I was just wondering about those trees over there. What kind are they that makes them grow like that?"

The Kromagg looked at the orchard and smiled. "They no grow like that. We...we make them that, yes. Shape and bend them as tree grow. It is our art. I am not so good at yet, but am learning very hard."

"Living sculptures," Wade said and smiled up at Rembrandt. "That's so nice. Like bonsai on our world."

The wind changed direction and carried with it trilling musical notes that struck Wade and Rembrandt's ears. They both turned to look in the direction of the sound.

"What is that?" Rembrandt asked. "A flute?"

"No," Eska said. "Please, be following, and I will show."

The Kromagg moved off through the village with the others following. She weaved gently through a crowd of running children to reach an old male Kromagg sitting by a hut.

The Kromagg male was supporting a long length of wood, almost as long as himself. But the log had been carved into a large pipe, covered with decorations. Along its length were a series of holes like a flute. The Kromagg had one end of the log in its mouth to blow into. The fingers on his hands and prehensile toes on his ape-like feet were playing over the holes as he blew, both at the same time, producing a rich and complex music.

"This is what you would call a four-flute in your language," Eska said. "Very hard to play, but is beautiful if mastered.

Rembrandt watched the old Kromagg play with an odd smile. "That's incredible. I mean, I've never heard anything like that. If I could get this guy a record deal, we'd make a fortune with the New Age crowd."

"Your people had a rich culture before the Dynasty came, didn't they?" Wade asked.

Eska lowered her small eyes to the dust at her feet. "Yes. With no war, no violence, no crime, were turning eyes to art and music and thinking. Were make many wonderful things. Now is all gone. Ghindel says we die soon, but I wish could learn the tree art before then."

Wade felt the burning sensation in her stomach that she always felt when seeing the injustice of the multiverse, which seemed to be endless. "This is so unfair, Rembrandt. These people have so much to offer. If the Dynasty hadn't gotten to them first, who knows where they'd be. They're peaceful, artistic, gentle...they're everything the other Kromaggs in the Dynasty aren't. I never really thought about it before, but the Kromaggs are the first non-human sentient race mankind has ever encountered. Like extraterrestrials, except better because we sort of share the same planet."

Wade looked at the children playing beside them. "If the Dynasty didn't exist and we had gotten to this world first, we could have taken some with us when we returned home. They'd be ambassadors for a new lifeform. Maybe our Earth and this world could have formed some sort of alliance and exchange of ideas. It would be the beginning of a new age." Wade turned her eyes to where a row of Kromaggs were struggling to carry a bag of grain to the bins. "Instead...the Dynasty got to these people first. And exploited them. And destroyed everything they spent a century creating. It's just not fair. There's gotta be something we can do."

"I wish we could, sweetheart," Rembrandt said. "But I don't think there is."

Eska smiled at them and touched the backs of her hands to Wade and Rembrandt's cheeks. "No, not to be pity us. We have found peace. One hundred years have we lived under Maozeu's Way. Is ending soon, yes, but will end how Maozeu wanted to end. All over Dynasty, they know us. Hear us. See us. We show all how to resist peacefully. No war. No fighting. This good. Will show all Maozeu's Way is only way."

Wade stared at her, searching her face with her eyes. "You really believe that, don't you? You're really happy this way."

Eska bowed her head in agreement. "This is Maozeu's Way. It is only way. It takes us this far. Will take us into forever."

Wade watched the Kromagg woman smiling up at her. And she saw in her eyes the inner peace and joy that Wade herself had always searched for.

Then the moment was broken as Quinn, Maggie, and Anguhra came charging up to them.

"Where've you guys been?" Maggie asked. "We've been looking all over for you."

Wade turned her head, moving away from Eska's hand. "We, uh...we were looking around. This place is so wonderful."

Rembrandt pointed down at the old Kromagg with the four-flute. "Yeah, check this guy out. Go on, give us a few quick riffs on that thing, will ya?"

The Kromagg began to play a chirping melody.

"Yeah, it's great," Maggie said quickly. "But we've got bigger things to think about. Has Ghindel come back yet?"

Anguhra nodded towards the entrance to the village. "He returns now." Ghindel was walking up to them with a slow, measured pace, leading his footsteps with the staff he leaned on heavily. Wade could make out the heavy concern on his face even before he spoke. "It is done."

Rembrandt smiled and moved towards him. "You did it? They're gonna let us out?"

Ghindel raised his eyes to him. "No. The Dynasty refused to release you. You are to be taken to Earth 113 tomorrow morning, where you will be interrogated and...disposed of. I tried to reason with them, show them the futility of wasting time and resources on four harmless Homo Sapiens, but... it was no use. The Dynasty can be somewhat unreasonable at times."

Rembrandt closed his eyes and seemed to deflate.

"Well, thanks a lot, pops," Maggie snarled. "Fat lotta good you did us with your little speech."

Wade glared at her and held out a hand. "Hey, lay off him, all right? He tried."

"And failed," Maggie said. "I'm so sick of this peaceful resistance crap. When are you people gonna wake up and see that your so-called Way is just a nice way of looking at the world, it's not something you can apply to every aspect of your life?"

Ghindel stared at her, then said, "You have much pain within you. The Chireen, pain of revenge, drives your every thought and movement. Maozeu teaches us that joy can create while anger can only destroy."

Maggie shook her head and turned away. "Please, I can't listen to this right now."

Ghindel shook his head. "You resist the peace so much. You resist everything, push everything away, including your own feelings towards others. This is not good."

Maggie pressed her hands over her eyes. "Can you please just give us some alternatives? Real alternatives? We need to get out of here."

Ghindel looked onto the horizon. The sun had set and all that remained was its deep crimson glow among the clouds that would soon fade. "Night is falling, there is little left we can do. Tomorrow morning, I will arrange a silent protest among my people. We will stage a peaceful demonstration of refusing to work and singing songs of Maozeu to show the Dynasty our opposition to your treatment." "And that's it, huh?" Maggie said, then smiled with a nod. "I see. Well, thank you very much, Ghindel. You've shown me the course is clear what we have to do."

Ghindel nodded. "I am pleased. The Dynasty will be sealing us in the cages for the night soon. I must make arrangements. Good-bye for now."

Ghindel trudged off across the village.

Maggie looked at Quinn. "That does it. We're on our own."

PART EIGHT

Wade watched Ghindel limp away from them. Eska glanced at Maggie, then hurried after the old Kromagg to take his arm and guide him gently away. Wade waited until they were out of hearing range, then whirled to glare up at Maggie.

"How could you be so rude to him?" she snapped.

Maggie shook her head. "I'm sorry if I overreacted, but Ghindel...he's gonna get us all killed thanks to his little philosophies. I don't see why I have to kiss his feet for the favor."

Wade folded her arms. "Hey, you know maybe you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss these people's ideas. They created a worldwide peaceful civilization, something we never achieved on our world. There's gotta be something to it."

Quinn held up a hand. "Uh, actually, I have a theory about that. Ghindel said Maozeu was the first to suggest these people should eat fruits and vegetables. I wonder if maybe there's something in the meat here or the way the Kromaggs digest meat that produces some sort of a toxin that makes them so violent. If so, then switching to vegetarianism would counteract that. Maybe it was the vegetarianism in following Maozeu that had an effect, not the teachings themselves."

Wade turned herself to face him, her arms still folded, her head tilted to one side. "Oh, that's just great. It's all about science with you, isn't it? Heaven forbid you should ever try to accept something intangible."

Quinn shrugged. "It was just a suggestion, that's all."

Rembrandt spoke for the first time since Ghindel's news. "You know, I have to agree with Wade. I mean, why's it so hard for you two to believe that people can find happiness through understanding something greater than themselves? That peace is the way to go?"

Maggie shook her head. "Look around you, Brown. This isn't a paradise. It's a well-decorated prison. These people aren't happy. They're just tolerating the situation."

Wade closed her eyes. "You know...I have tried so so many things in my life, leaving my mind open to all possibilities. Trying to find peace. But here, these people have found something so...wonderful...so calming...that I feel like I've finally found it. I can accept it. Why can't you?"

Maggie held up her hands. "Enough, all right? I have enough problems to worry about without getting into a theological debate. Let's get down to business, which is finding a way out of this place. Now listen, guys, Anguhra's got something going. A resistance movement. And he wants us to help him pull it off. Anguhra?"

The Kromagg standing beside them gave Wade and Rembrandt a quick summary of everything he had explained to Quinn and Maggie. Quinn watched Wade's face during the description. It remained placid and stoic throughout. When Anguhra finally fell silent, Wade stared at him for a moment.

"That's the plan," Maggie added. "All we have to do is keep quiet and go along with it, and we'll be outta here on schedule and free as birds."

"But," Wade started, then repeated, "but you can't do it. It's...violent...it's chaotic...it goes against everything Maozeu teaches."

"That's the whole point," Maggie said with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

Wade swept her glare at her. "That's not funny."

Maggie shrugged. "Wasn't trying to be."

"Don't you understand?" Wade asked. "If these people stage a violent uprising, it defeats the purpose of all the suffering they've gone through. Up until now, they have served as examples of peaceful and passive resistance. With a revolution, all that is destroyed. Their reputation among the Dynasty is gone. And one hundred years of peace and unity goes up in smoke."

Wade looked at Anguhra, who glared down at her from within his hood. "Surely you can understand that."

Anguhra spoke without moving a muscle except his lips. "What I understand is that my people have suffered for too long. I will not allow that to continue."

"You've lived in this place. You've seen the joy the Way brings. How can you tear that apart? How can you lie to Ghindel and everyone else about something like this? What kind of monster are you?"

Anguhra watched her with blank, expressionless eyes as he said, "I am a monster who is not willing to let his brothers and sisters suffer and die when something can be done to prevent it. Besides, we have no guarantee that anyone even knows or cares about our fate outside this world. We may all be slaughtered and no one will ever know of Maozeu's teachings. By freeing ourselves, we can bring the multiverse the message of Maozeu ourselves. Otherwise, it may die with us."

Wade looked at Quinn. "You agree with this?"

Quinn felt his face grow hot from the intensity of her gaze and had to look away. "All I agree with is that if we don't do something, the Dynasty is going to take us, torture us, and kill us. That means no more sliding, no more us, and Rickman gets away forever. I'm willing to do anything it takes to keep that from happening. If we had another option, I'd go along with that. But we don't."

"Maybe the protest will work."

Quinn looked up to glare at her. "Come on, Wade, even you can't believe that."

Wade nodded, allowing a smile to creep across her face. "That's what I thought. You don't believe these people have found something worth protecting, so you don't care if we destroy it."

"That's not true," Quinn started.

"You know," Wade interrupted, "I remember when the Professor and I used to have those big arguments about not interfering with other worlds. He used to say we had no right to impose our views and culture on the people around us. How we're just tourists, not saviors. I never agreed with him before...but maybe I do now. These people have created a paradise. I refuse to participate in anything that will upset that."

Wade spun on her heel and charged off across the village. She came to the playground where the Kromagg children were holding hands and singing. Wade slumped against a tree, slid along it to the ground, and sat there motionless.

Maggie nodded her chin at Rembrandt. "How about you, Brown? Are you with us?"

Rembrandt looked over his shoulder at Wade, then back to Maggie. He bit his lip. And slowly shook his head. "No. No, she's right. This world may not be much, but, uh... it's all they've got. I know if I had what they had...I'd rather die to protect it, too."

Rembrandt backed away from them a few steps, his hands in his pockets, then turned his back on them. He walked over to the tree where Wade was sitting. For a moment, the two looked at each other and exchanged words. Then Rembrandt sank down and propped himself against the tree beside her. The two sat watching the children play in silence, the shadows of the dying sun reaching across the field.

Maggie folded her arms over her chest. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. Since when is philosophy worth more than life itself? Maybe it's me who has her priorities screwed up, but I don't think so. Well, fine, we'll do it without them."

Quinn stared at Wade from across the village, then murmured, "I dunno. Maybe she's right. Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all."

Maggie winced. "Oh, come on, not you, too?"

"It just...doesn't sit right, you know? I mean, we'll be helping to destroy a century of unbroken worldwide peace. That can't be good for the karma."

Maggie shook her head, then said, "Okay, Mallory, then consider this. These people are going to revolt eventually, with or without us, right, Anguhra?"

"It is my quest," Anguhra said in a calm voice.

"Right," Maggie said, "it's not like we forced these people to do it. It's what they wanted. We're just tagging along for the ride, giving them a nudge in the right direction. And we get something out of it. Everybody's happy."

Quinn remained silent, watching Wade and Rembrandt together. Without him.

Maggie spoke again. "All right, let's try this. Colonel Rickman killed my husband. He killed your professor. He's killed people on fourteen worlds, and put who knows how many more into irreversible comas. We're the one thing that's stopped him from settling on a world and draining it dry. Without us, there'll be no stopping him. If we get killed, Rickman gets away with everything he's done and will continue to do. *Everything.* Now what's more important? Values or saving lives? Real lives?"

Quinn thought about her words. He thought about the lives that Rickman would claim without the Sliders to pursue and control him. And he thought about the lives that Rickman had claimed in the past. He thought about Professor Arturo stepping in front of the bullet that was intended for Quinn. He thought about the Professor lying in a pool of blood, breathing his last breath forever.

"You're right," Quinn whispered. "Let's do it."

PART NINE

Maggie nodded and turned to Anguhra. "Okay, what do we have to do?"

"Just some minor preparations," Anguhra said. "I will show you the cage where we will spend the night. And the hidden weapons caches."

The two began to walk away. Maggie slowed and looked back at Quinn. Quinn was only aware of her out of the corner of his eye. His attention was fixed on Wade and Rembrandt sitting by the playground, watching the Kromagg children. They seemed so far away.

"Coming, Mallory?" Maggie asked.

Quinn swallowed, then said, "No, no, you...you go ahead. I need to do some thinking."

"Suit yourself. Let's go, Anguhra." Maggie walked alongside the robed Kromagg, off through the village that was turning grey as night approached.

Quinn watched Wade and Rembrandt for a moment, then turned away. He had to think, to get his head on straight for once. So he walked away from them, deeper into the village.

He passed huts where Kromaggs in their robed gear were preparing for the on-coming evening. Doors and windows were being sealed. Children were being gathered by their parents. A Kromagg with a flaming torch moved from one hut to another, lighting candles that were mounted on staffs out front. The village began to glow with the candlelight.

Quinn found a quiet corner of the village, one that was on the banks of the river. He couldn't go too far. The force field around the village stopped him from reaching the water's edge. But he could get close enough to sit and watch the river flow by.

He sat for a moment, watching the water and contemplating all that he had seen and done in the past few months. And he became aware of footsteps behind him.

Ghindel was walking up to him with his slow, shuffling gait. The old Kromagg moved to Quinn's side, then painfully sank down to sit beside him. With a heavy sigh, Ghindel relaxed.

"The body," Ghindel said, "was to be the last thing Maozeu conquered before he died. He had completed his work on the mind. All that remained was mastery of the body. On damp nights like this, when my bones protest every movement, I often wish Maozeu had lived to finish this task."

Quinn grinned, despite himself.

Ghindel looked at Quinn. The white hair on his head danced in the cool evening breeze. "You do not believe it is the Way that brings us peace."

After a moment, Quinn said, "I'm not sure. I have another theory, but...I could be wrong."

"But you do not believe so. You think it is food that makes us calm." Ghindel shrugged and looked out over the river again. "Perhaps this is so. Maozeu once said only a fool thinks that everything he believes to be true actually is truth. But I gain peace and understanding through the scrolls. That is all that concerns me."

Ghindel sighed. "You have the pain of separation within you. It is stronger now than even before when you felt the pain of the loss of your friend."

Quinn looked at Ghindel, but the old Kromagg kept his small eyes fixed on the water trickling past. Finally, Quinn said, "Yeah, I guess I do feel that, uh...pain of separation."

He picked up a rock off the ground and turned it over in his hands. "My friends...Wade and Rembrandt... they don't agree with...something I want to do. It's been like that a lot lately, the two of them. And me and Maggie on the other side. It's like we're two teams now. Wade and Rembrandt are one team. A team I used to be a part of."

Quinn brushed moist clumps of soil off the rock. "So much has changed in such a short while. Since we met Maggie...everything's different. I don't know if I can handle it."

He threw the rock at the river. The rock stopped before it even reached the shore, striking the force-field that caused it to crackle with sparks. The rock fell to the ground at Quinn's feet.

Ghindel nodded. "I know of what you speak. You live in a new world. And you four have not yet adapted to the change. But I believe your problem is anger."

Quinn couldn't hold back a grin that Ghindel noticed with a glance.

"Yes," Ghindel said, "you laugh because you think we speak too much of anger. Of peace. But Maozeu taught that everything is based on these two principles. There is anger, violence, discomfort. And there is passivity, forgiveness, and peace. Everything we do is based on these principles. There must be a balance. That balance is what you have lost."

Ghindel stretched out a hand and picked up another rock off the ground. This one was smaller. "You once lived for peace. Inner peace. The peace that would be gained from returning home. This is what drove you, and this is what you looked forward to. Peace. But no longer. Now you feel pain and try to ease that pain through another source of pain, revenge. But you cannot exchange one pain for another. And you know this."

Ghindel turned the rock over in his hands. "This man you seek...this Rickman...what will you do when you catch him?"

Quinn stared at the water. A fish flickered briefly past in the river. "I don't know. Get our timer back. Get home."

"And kill him?" Ghindel asked.

"I haven't decided," Quinn murmured.

"Yes, you have," Ghindel said. "You just have not accepted your decision."

Quinn watched the light that flickered on the water grow dim. "Maybe."

Ghindel braced his hands on his knees. "You will. One day, you will decide between the path of peace and violence. Perhaps it will be before you challenge this Rickman again. Perhaps it will be at the final moment. Perhaps it will be too late. But I hope when that time comes, you will choose the path that you will be able to live with for the rest of your life."

Ghindel eased himself into a standing position. He looked down at Quinn, turning the rock in his curled hands. "Remember this, my son. You cannot plant a tree with hate. You cannot raise a child with hate. You cannot raise the dead with hate. Hate can create nothing. It can only destroy. There are other solutions. Maozeu teaches us to find those solutions...and change the world."

Ghindel turned away. As he did, he tosses the rock casually over his shoulder. The rock sailed through the air. It hit the force field. But the field merely flickered around its edges, allowing the rock to pass through. The rock landed in the water with a splash.

Quinn stared at the ripples the rock left behind. Then he looked at Ghindel, who was limping away at a casual pace.

"How did you do that?" Quinn called out.

Ghindel chuckled, but did not stop or turn around. "I merely chose wisely."

Quinn waited for him to continue, but the old Kromagg did not. He merely kept walking on into the darkness of the approaching night.

Quinn looked back in the river and thought about what Ghindel had said. He had two paths before him, and he couldn't choose. That conflict was growing stronger and stronger, to the point where it was alienating him from his friends and his life.

Ghindel had seen that. Maybe it was the vegetarian diet that was giving these people peace. Or maybe Wade was right and it was Maozeu after all. Or maybe it was a combination of the two. Quinn couldn't figure it out. But what he did know was that these people really did have a way of life that was unique. And he was preparing to take part in something that would destroy it, even if only for a little while.

But they had no choice. There was no other way for them to escape. Was there? And Maggie was right. The revolt would occur with or without them. The Sliders would be just a small but vital cog in a very large machine of revolution.

And then there was Rickman to consider. The Sliders were the only ones who knew he existed and had the power to stop him. Rickman was incredibly dangerous and seemed to grow more dangerous every time they encountered him. And he had caused so much damage already that it seemed stupid to throw away so much for something that was really only an outdated and ultimately futile way of life on one small world in the multiverse.

Maybe. Or maybe Maozeu's Way was having an effect. Maybe other Kromaggs were watching and hearing about it and its peaceful ways. And maybe they were being inspired to follow it, too. Maybe the Way really was as seductive as Ghindel claimed, and it would one day be adopted by all the Kromaggs, and transform and dismantle the Dynasty forever. If Quinn aided in the revolution and it succeeded, then he might never know.

Quinn closed his eyes and sighed deeply. It was all too complicated a decision for him to be making. How many times could the fate of an entire world be rested on one pair of shoulders? Why did he have to keep facing these enormous responsibilities? Quinn couldn't wait to find Rickman, get the coordinates, and go home. Go home and just rest. Live a normal life again.

The constant stress was taking its toll. He was afraid that he wasn't the same person he was even a few months ago before Arturo died. He was growing bitter, resentful, angry, even violent. He still couldn't get over how easy it had been for him to kill those monsters on Vampire World.

Something poked him in the back. Quinn looked up to see a Kromagg soldier standing over him, an energy weapon in his hand. The weapon was pointed at Quinn's head.

"Time to go to your cage," the soldier snarled.

PART TEN

The cage in which the Kromagg Dynasty locked up the villagers was just that - a large iron cage that the Dynasty soldiers herded the robed Maozeuists into as night fell. As Quinn was forced in with them, he could see that the villagers were used to this treatment. They distributed themselves around the cage into locations Quinn could tell they were used to being in every night. They didn't resist, only moved quicker when threatened.

Maggie was obviously having a hard time restraining herself, on the other hand. Her fists were clenched as she stepped through the cage door, her face set like a grim mask. One of the soldiers gave her a shove and she clenched, obviously holding herself back from punching him.

Wade and Rembrandt stepped in after her, followed by Ghindel. Anguhra was standing in a corner of the cell, leaning against the bars, and looking out at the trees and huts of the outside.

The door was slammed shut. One of the soldiers turned a key in the lock. The soldiers trudged away in the lurching, hunched-over gait of the Kromaggs.

Ghindel began waving his arms and the other Kromaggs in the cell began gathering around him. As they formed a circle around him, Ghindel began to speak in the chattering and squealing of the Kromagg language. Quinn assumed he was giving another lecture on Maozeu.

Maggie waited until they were out of earshot, then walked over to Anguhra. "So what's the plan?"

Anguhra looked down at her from under his hood and thick simian brow. "My people are all around us, gathered in this cage. Now we wait until the moon reaches that point in the sky, that is when Ghindel will leave the cage and get the key...you will unlock this cage and we will get the key from him. Can you do it?"

Maggie walked over to the door and carefully examined the lock from the inside. "Yeah, no problem. You get those lockpicks I asked you for?"

Anguhra reached under his robe and drew out two small lengths of wire. "It was hard to get them. But we did."

"Fantastic," Maggie said, taking the picks. "Shouldn't have a problem on this end."

Mallory glared at Quinn. "Now all we have to worry about is the other end of the plan."

Wade turned away from Ghindel's lecture to look at Quinn. She spoke in a low voice. "Well, Quinn? Have you decided what you're gonna do yet?"

Quinn looked at her. The moon was behind her, framing her hair with light and leaving her face in shadows. He looked at Maggie, whose face shone in the light of the moon, but glared at him with a fierce intensity.

Finally, Quinn said, "No...not yet."

"Yes, you have," Wade said and turned away. She walked over to the crowds around Ghindel and sat down at the edge to listen.

"I wish people would quit saying that to me," Quinn murmured.

"So you're in, Mallory?" Maggie asked.

Quinn sighed, then said, "Yeah, I'm in. It's too important not to be."

"Good," Anguhra said. "Then we will act at the moon's highest rising. Until then, do not speak to me or acknowledge my presence to avoid suspicion."

Anguhra tucked his arms into the sleeves of his robe and moved away.

Maggie looked around them at some of the Kromaggs who were lying down on the hard earth floor, curling up for sleep. She nodded and said, "Okay, we'd better get some sleep, too. Can't jeopardize this operation by being tired."

Maggie found an empty corner of the cage and lay down. She took off her jacket, folded it up, and put it under her head as a pillow. She closed her eyes and relaxed with a deep sigh.

Quinn looked away from her to where Wade was sitting, listening to Ghindel. He began to walk towards her. Rembrandt stepped into his path.

"Don't try it, Q-Ball," Rembrandt whispered.

"I just want to explain why I'm doing this," Quinn whispered.

"It won't make any difference. Won't change how she feels about you or this resistance thing."

Quinn stared at him in the darkness. "You understand, don't you, Remmy? You know how important it is for us to escape."

Rembrandt nodded. "I understand. I understand that we have to catch Rickman, I understand that these people need to escape the Dynasty. But I also understand that these people are happy. Even though they're being tortured and exploited and abused, they're happy. Because they feel like it's all for a purpose. They believe in something. And I know I don't want to be the one who takes that away."

Quinn took a step forward to glare into Rembrandt's face as he whispered, "You know, I'm getting a little sick of being the bad guy here. I'm trying to save the lives of everyone in this village, maybe even this planet, and of you and Wade, and somehow I'm wrong for doing it.

"I care about you. And I care about Wade. I can't just sit and watch us all get hauled away by the Dynasty so we can get used and dumped like garbage. We've been through too much for that. I watched Arturo die and I promised I'd do everything in my power to keep you and Wade safe. So I have a chance to do that. And if that's wrong, if love and friendship and justice are wrong, then shoot me, Remmy, because I'm wrong."

Rembrandt's face was lined with shadows from moonlight falling through the bars above him. "You don't understand, Quinn. It's just not that simple."

"Well, I'm making it simple." Quinn turned his back on Rembrandt and trudged over to an empty spot against one of the walls of the cage. He lay down on the rough soil, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

* * *

Quinn felt someone's hand on his arm, shaking him awake. He opened his eyes but a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Don't move," Maggie whispered into his ear. "This is it."

It was still night. Quinn could hear the snores of sleeping Kromaggs all around him, and saw the shadowy forms of the villagers curled up on the floor of the cage all around him. Quinn looked up at Maggie, who was lying on her stomach beside him. From the look of it, she had crawled across the room to him. She was looking up at the door of the cage.

A Kromagg was standing there in an ornate robe. It was Ghindel. He was working a key into the lock, quietly and carefully. The lock clicked. He glanced over his shoulder with suspicion. Quinn quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He lay there for a few tense seconds, feeling sweat break out on his forehead. Then the cage-door squealed on its hinges as it opened. Quinn looked to see Ghindel step out of the cage. He closed the door behind him and hurried off across the village.

Maggie released Quinn to rise to her feet. "Okay, let's do it."

Several of the Kromaggs rose to their feet. Among them was Anguhra, who pointed at the soil below. Two of the awakened Kromaggs began digging in the ground. They eventually drew out armfuls of Kromagg weapons from the hole that they began to pass around.

Anguhra took two and handed one to Quinn. "It begins."

Quinn gripped the small rectangular box in his hand, feeling it hum with power. And it felt cold.

Maggie jogged over to the door of the cage and pulled the lockpicks out of her shirt's collar. She bent over and began working the two strips of metal in the lock.

The Kromaggs in the cage were gathering around her. Some of them, mostly males, were obviously of Anguhra's resistance movement. They carried Kromagg weapons and had a look of fierce determination of their pinched faces. But others seemed confused and angry, chattering to Anguhra and the others, and Quinn assumed they were Ghindel's followers protesting the attack. They were being ignored.

Wade and Rembrandt were among the crowd watching Maggie. Rembrandt glanced up at Quinn, but Wade kept her eyes locked on Maggie. She had a look of resignation, slightly touched with submerged anger.

Maggie grit her teeth as she worked on the lock. "Come on, you stupid..."

"You've gotta angle it better," Wade said. "You're not holding up the tumblers as you disengage them."

Maggie shot her a look. "What, you know how to pick locks?"

"Yeah," Wade said. "I do. Unlocked a pair of handcuffs Quinn was wearing once."

Maggie snarled. "Yeah, well, maybe you'd could do this better."

Wade gave her a sweet smile. "I could. But I won't."

"Then leave me alone." Maggie turned her attention back to the lock. Her lip curled up further as she whispered, "Come on, you stupid...got it."

The lock snapped open. Maggie pulled the door and it swung wide, whining gently on its hinges. The Kromaggs broke into murmurs of confusion and wonder.

"We are free," Anguhra said. "We must move quickly. By now, the Dynasty has begun the changing of the guard, and Ghindel may already have retrieved the key." He turned and squealed at the other Kromaggs, who began to march out of the cage. Anguhra handed one of the weapons to Maggie, then charged after his army into the night.

The village was calm and still beneath the pale moonlight. The moon was large and swollen in the skies above, shining down on the Kromagg army that made their way through the huts. Anguhra led the journey through the darkness, keeping to shadows, his footsteps barely audible.

Quinn walked along with them, trying to stay as covert, but knowing he was failing. He could only move as softly and slowly as he could as Anguhra and his men made their way through the village.

"Where is Ghindel?" Maggie whispered.

Anguhra's beady eyes roamed the village, then stopped. "There."

Quinn looked at the center of the village. The statue of Maozeu still towered above them in the darkness. But there was a figure kneeling at its feet. It was Ghindel.

As Quinn crept closer, he could see that Ghindel was working on the small gong mounted over Maozeu's feet. There was a click as Ghindel opened the gong, revealing it to be hollow. Ghindel reached inside and pull out a small transparent card.

"That's it," Anguhra said. "That's the key."

PART ELEVEN

Anguhra watched Ghindel pull the key out of the statue's gong and nodded. "I should have known he would put it there. Come..."

Wade rushed up to him to grab his arm. "What are you gonna do?"

"I will do," Anguhra said, glaring at her, "what I must do." He twisted his arm out of her hand and charged out of the bushes towards Ghindel's statue. His army followed, lurching in the simian manner of the Kromaggs.

Ghindel finished sealing the gong and rose painfully to his feet. He turned, shadows in his hood shielding his face, which contorted as he caught sight of Anguhra and the other Kromaggs advancing on him.

Ghindel chattered a few sentences in the Kromagg language, then looked at Wade. "What is going on, young female?"

"They're here to get that key," Wade said, glaring up at Anguhra.

Ghindel swept his gaze over the crowd, finally settling on Anguhra. Ghindel began to speak to the young Kromagg, squealing and grunting in his native tongue.

Wade looked over at Eska, who was standing next to her. Wade nudged Eska and whispered, "What are they saying?"

"They fight," Eska said in halting English. "Ghindel, he ask why Anguhra would do this. Anguhra say want to free people. End misery. Can return to the Way when Dynasty overthrown. Ghindel say that if we must change our ways to overthrow Dynasty, then we not be who we are. Might as well die."

Anguhra took a step towards the old man and growled. Ghindel clutched the key to his own chest and snarled something.

"Ghindel say," Eska continued, "he would rather die than let Anguhra destroy culture. Anguhra, he say not want to hurt Ghindel, but not let people die any longer."

An engine roar filled the skies. Everyone looked up at the horizon where a gigantic Manta ship rose up from the trees outside the village. Its black shape blotted out the moon and outlined its wings against the glow. Quinn watched the massive ship float over the village at a methodical pace, its shadow plunging them all into even further darkness.

"The troop transport," Anguhra snarled under his breath.

The Manta ship spat a beam of red light from its nose. The light pierced the stars and caused the sky to erupt into a huge circle of glowing red light. The light flowed into itself as the ship approached it. The Manta Transport glided gently into the wormhole. When the ship was inside, the wormhole imploded into nothingness.

"That is it," Anguhra said. "That is the transport that has carried the bulk of the Kromagg California garrison off this world. Now is the moment when the Dynasty is weakest. We have less than ten minutes before the next transport returns and all is lost."

Anguhra swept his tiny bloodshot eyes down to Ghindel and growled again. The old Kromagg chirped. Anguhra bared his teeth and roared, throwing up his gnarled hands in the air. Ghindel stamped a foot and began gesturing around the village with a finger. "He says," Eska said, "many things. Peace, home, endurance, resistance..."

Anguhra grabbed the key in Ghindel's hands. The two began to wrestle, trying to twist and pull the card out of each other's grasp. Anguhra roared and bared his teeth while Ghindel only shook his head and squealed in protest. The other Kromaggs began joining their voices, arguing with each other and the two leaders. Anguhra began pulling harder and harder until Ghindel was barely able to stand.

"Stop it!" Wade screamed. "Leave him alone, can't you see you're..."

Anguhra lashed out with a fist. It slammed into Ghindel's temple. Ghindel was thrown back by the blow. He landed on the feet of the Maozeu statute, one hand striking the gong, which rang throughout the village.

The Kromaggs fell silent. They looked down at the old male in a horrified silence.

Anguhra's eyes were as wide as they could be as he stared down at Ghindel. He looked down at the key in his hand. His eyes narrowed and grew cool. He growled as he swept a hand towards his troops. The meaning of his gesture was all too clear from the reaction. His followers began marching through the grounds towards the village edge.

"We don't have much time," Anguhra said. "Come, Beckett and Mallory." Then he moved off towards the edge with his followers.

Maggie jogged after Anguhra, readying her Kromagg energy-weapon. Quinn looked down at Ghindel. He was still sprawled on the massive feet of Maozeu, groaning softly. Eska rushed towards the man, squealing in terror. Wade was by her side, hurrying to kneel beside Ghindel, as Rembrandt joined her.

Eska cradled Ghindel's head in her lap and began to wail loudly. Wade looked over the cut that was beginning to bleed on Ghindel's head, and tore off the sleeve of her shirt. She rolled up the cloth and pressed it to the wound.

"It's not too bad," Wade said. "But we need some cold water to wash this."

"Gotcha," Rembrandt said, and jogged over to a nearby well. He began to draw water into a bucket.

Wade looked up at Quinn. Her eyes were heavy and almost burning with anger. "Welcome to the revolution, Quinn."

"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt," Quinn said. "I'll stay with you..."

"No," Wade said. "It's too late now, it's already started. You might as well finish it. If this doesn't get us home, then it really will all be for nothing."

Quinn looked off into the forest. There were booming crashes going off in the distance. Along with the crackle of energy and howls of agony. He looked back down at Wade. She was pressing the cloth to Ghindel's head, watching scarlet bloom under her fingers.

Wade didn't look up as she whispered, "I said go."

Quinn looked at her for a moment, then jogged out of the village into the trees. He knew there was nothing more he could say.

The sounds of battle grew louder and Quinn allowed himself to be guided by them. He moved as quickly as he could through the forest, trying to maneuver through the darkness and untamed growth.

Two Kromaggs fell into his path. One was a Dynasty soldier in his black jumpsuit. The other was a robed Kromagg. The two were struggling with an energy- weapon. The soldier drove a knee into the robed one's stomach, then shoved her away. But the robed Kromagg managed to wrench the weapon out of the soldier's hand as she fell away. She staggered back, aimed, and fired. A red beam lanced out and hit the solider, which convulsed, then collapsed.

The robed Kromagg looked up at Quinn, panting wildly. "You Homo Sapien Mallory?"

"Yeah, that's me," Quinn said.

"Follow," the Kromagg breathed, then ran off into the brush again.

Quinn followed her into a battlefield. The two Kromagg factions were at war, fighting, shooting, throwing each other through the forest. Red beams of energy pulsed and flashed, striking trees and bushes to set them on fire, and hitting Kromaggs to send them flying to the ground.

A trio of soldiers stood back-to-back, trying to form a circle of fire. But the robed Kromaggs were all around them, firing back from behind tree trunks. The trio was taken down before Quinn's eyes, one after the other.

A soldier charged past Quinn carrying a larger version of the Kromagg energy-weapon. He turned and aimed at Quinn, his thick lips curling into a snarl. Then a robed Kromagg came swinging down from the trees on a rope. He landed on the soldier's neck, wrapping his legs around to choke the Dynasty warrior. The soldier collapsed on the ground, writhing in agony.

The Kromagg who had met Quinn moved through the violence swiftly and without hesitation. Quinn followed her lead and tried not to look at the carnage going on around him. He tried not to hear the screams and howls of the battle around him. Red beams of light lanced out in his path.

Then a structure came into view. It was obviously Kromagg technology, which was organic instead of mechanical. It looked like a living creature, an eel standing on its head. The base of the structure was wide and tapered upwards into a slender needle that seemed to pierce the sky.

Quinn was rushed towards the structure, which had an open door in its side. Up close, he could see the oily and textured surface of the building's walls. He was guided past two wrestling Kromaggs through the door and inside.

Inside the building, a harsh squeal was going off like the wail of a monkey or chimpanzee, and Quinn recognized it as the Kromagg warning alarm. He rushed down a corridor that grumbled softly. Light shone from glowing spheres embedded in the walls. The Kromagg led Quinn out into a open chamber.

It was a Kromagg control room. The design was chaotic and inhuman, but Quinn had come to recognize it from his first view of the interior of a Manta cruiser. The difference was that the Kromaggs now moving and manipulating the various controls were wearing earth-toned robes instead of the Dynasty uniform.

Anguhra was among them, studying the crystalline pillar in the center of the room. He shot a glare at Quinn as he entered. "You are late, Homo Sapien."

"Sorry," Quinn said, "I got held up."

Maggie emerged from behind a console, holding a length of wire that was transparent and glowing. "Well, it's about time you got here. We can't make heads or tails o' this thing."

Quinn looked around the chamber. The technology and design were alien to him, but he knew that science was science. Though the mind of the creator might be different, they had to follow the same rules as a human designer would. He hoped. "Okay," Quinn said, "that's the power source. And this here...this must be the magnetic resonator. I think this leathery thing is the conduction wave modulator..."

He began moving through the control room, piecing together the mechanism in his mind. Gradually, it began to take shape. Quinn touched a lighted spot on one of the consoles. Screens light up with diagrams and Kromagg writing.

Quinn pointed at one of the screens as he walked over to the other side of the room to another control panel. "I need someone to translate this stuff for me so I know what I'm doing."

Anguhra gestured and Kromaggs took positions at various screens. They began reading off the text in English, and Quinn felt his grasp of the technology getting stronger.

Quinn began to move over the controls, activating systems and bringing up instructions. "How much time do we have?"

Anguhra stepped towards a window and looked out at the sky. His ape-like face collapsed into anger. "Not long."

* * *

Ghindel murmured softly as he began to struggle against Eska. The young Kromagg smiled as Ghindel moved in her arms.

"He alive," she said. "Ghindel lives."

Wade soaked her cloth in water and pressed it against the cut on the old Kromagg's temple. "Sure, he'll be fine. Just got a bad knock on the head, that's all."

Eska squinted at her. "Knock...on head?"

Wade shook her head. "Forget it. What's he saying?"

Eska looked down at Ghindel in her lap and stroked his cheek with a finger. "He very sad. Say Maozeu failed. All for nothing."

"That's not true," Rembrandt said. "Tell him it wasn't for nothing, he did the best he could. You'll get through this."

A high-pitched squeal came, followed by a dull roar like thunder. A harsh wind began to blow that ripped at the trees, sending them waving chaotically. One of the huts was wrenched from the ground and crashed into pieces. A basket filled with fruit toppled over onto the ground, then the empty basket sailed off into the air.

Rembrandt hunched over the ground and used a hand to shield his eyes against the blowing winds. "What's happenin', Eska? Is it the windy season or somethin'?"

Eska looked up at the sky. Her eyes were wide. Her body was tense. She swallowed and said, "No. They coming. Dynasty coming."

Wade and Rembrandt looked up at the sky overhead. It appeared to be rippling and convulsing. Then part of it collapsed into a red swirling hole. Another one appeared a few feet away. And another. And another.

Wade felt a chill sweep through her a wormholes formed in the sky, one after the other, until there were too many to count and the sky itself seems like one single wormhole. The pale glow of moonlight was replaced by the harsh fiery red of a thousand wormholes shining down on them.

"The Dynasty," Eska whispered, "is coming."

PART TWELVE

Quinn listened to the roar of the winds battering the fragile walls of the structure. Through the windows, protected by a thin, transparent membrane, he could see the forest outside glowing red, like the world had been doused with blood.

"What's going on out there?" Quinn yelled.

Anguhra was squinting up at the sky with his beady eyes. His ape-like features contorted with concern. "The Dynasty is preparing to return. And they are sending reinforcements."

Maggie turned away from another window and glared at Quinn. "I'd estimate over five thousand wormholes out there, Mallory, and more forming every second. If they stay open and the Dynasty manages to send cruisers through for even a first wave, we won't stand a chance."

"Then we won't let them," Quinn said. He looked down at his controls. "Let's get this baby running. Switch on!"

Quinn hit a switch, then touched a series of colored patches on the console. The entire structure gave off a high-pitched whine and began to tremble. A loud humming noise rose up from the crystal pillar in the center of the room. Then the pillar began to glow with an eerie blue light. "It's working!" Quinn yelled. "Hang on, everybody!"

He touched a crystal on the console.

* * *

Wade squinted up at the raging sky, trying to shield her face against the winds that carried dust and leaves through the air like rain. She, Ghindel, Eska, and Rembrandt were all bathed in the harsh scarlet light of the wormholes that were as thick in the sky as clouds.

Then she saw shadows forming within the wormholes. The shadows of Kromagg Dynasty Manta Cruisers emerging into the dimension. Hundreds of them, each carrying a platoon of soldiers. Enough manpower...Kromaggpower...to crush the rebellion that was only now just starting.

Then there was a loud humming noise that burst out of the trees. Wade looked to see a bluish light forming on the horizon, one that grew stronger with each passing moment until it was like a blue sun.

"What is that thing?" Rembrandt yelled.

"I dunno," Wade screamed back over the wind. "You think it might be that gravity thing Quinn was talking about?"

"I hope so." Rembrandt looked up at the oncoming ships. "We don't have much time to lock that door."

"I wonder when it'll take effect!" Wade yelled.

The blue light suddenly condensed itself into a single shaft of light that burst up into the air. It hit one of the wormholes, then splintered as if by a prism into millions of individual beams of light. The atmosphere itself seemed to ripple with the impact. Wade felt herself suddenly grow lighter for a moment, then incredibly heavy. Just as she was beginning to feel the strain of being crushed, gravity returned to normal.

"What was that?" Rembrandt yelled.

Wade looked up at the sky. The wormholes were opening and closing, seemingly at random, like mouths gasping for air. Then one closed with a rushing noise. Then another. And another. The wormholes snapped shut in a wave, cutting off the incoming shadows.

A Manta Cruiser emerged from one of the wormholes, weapons bristling on its wings. But before it could complete the exit, the wormhole snapped shut. The rear half of the Cruiser disappeared with it, leaving only the severed forward section. The Cruiser wobbled in the air, whining, then toppled out of the sky. Its landing was punctuated by a ball of fire that erupted from the treeline.

The red light faded from the world. The night sky returned to its former self, with only one change. Wade could just barely make out a web of thin glowing lines in the skies above, all radiating from the original blue shaft. It was the Fortress Field.

Rembrandt cautiously released his grip on the statue. He looked down at Wade, a smile spreading across his face. "He did it?"

Wade looked down at Ghindel as she nodded. "Yeah, he did it."

Ghindel was looking back at her with heavy eyes that peered out from under his thick brow ridge. His wrinkled face was etched with sadness as he whispered, "And so it ends..."

* * *

The morning came to shine the sun's rays on a new world. Quinn walked out of the Kromagg control center with Anguhra by his side. Anguhra was carefully writing symbols on parchment as Quinn dictated to him.

"And that's about it," Quinn said. "The Fortress Field is pretty self-sufficient, powered by sunlight, so it shouldn't require much maintenance. Follow those instructions and you should be Dynasty-free for at least a couple of centuries."

"And we can activate and deactivate the Field as needed?" Anguhra asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said. "You'll have to so we can slide out of here, but I'd suggest leaving it off as little as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dynasty sets up a permanent patrol around this dimension, just waiting for you to let your guard down."

Anguhra rolled up the scroll in his hands as he nodded. "We will be ready."

Quinn nodded, then said, "You know, I wish we had time to study the Field generator. We could use something like it on other worlds to protect them from the Dynasty."

"One day," Anguhra said, "we may decipher its secrets on our own."

Quinn and Anguhra walked through the village, one which was busy with activity. Quinn looked over to where the Kromagg Dynasty prisoners were being lined up. Robed Kromaggs charged around with weapons in hand, forcing the soldiers to stay in formation and march into cages. Cages that had once held the villagers prisoner instead.

"I see you guys have everything under control," Quinn said.

Anguhra nodded. "Yes, the rebellion was quite easy once the Dynasty's reinforcements had been cut off. Outnumbered, the soldiers were no match for us. From all reports, the West Coast is free of the Dynasty's grip and plans are underway to manage the rest of the continent, then the planet."

Anguhra nodded over at where Maggie was standing over a table, drawing diagrams on scrolls for on-looking Kromaggs. "Your friend Beckett is assisting us. She is quite skilled in the area of military strategy."

"Yeah," Quinn said. "It's second nature to her."

Quinn watched the last of the soldiers being pushed into the cage and the door slammed shut. "What'll happen to them?"

"We will try to convert them to Maozeu's Way," Anguhra said. "If we cannot...they are too dangerous to remain among us...alive."

Quinn let that statement hang in the air.

They were approaching the statue of Maozeu. Ghindel was standing at its feet, his followers gathered in a circle around him. But Quinn couldn't help noticing the group was smaller than before. Most of the others were moving around the village, working to clean up and organize the cleanup efforts. But Ghindel didn't seem to notice as he lectured in the Kromagg tongue, gesturing around himself.

Wade and Rembrandt were sitting at the edge of the group, listening. As Quinn approached, they looked up at him.

"Morning, Q-Ball," Rembrandt said. "Everything all set?"

"Yeah," Quinn said. "These guys know everything they need to know to run the Fortress Field. We slide in a few minutes."

Quinn looked down at Wade. He tried to think what he could say, then just gave up. "Look, I'm sorry..."

Wade got to her feet so she could look up at Quinn. "No, Quinn. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you the bad guy. You're right, you didn't start this rebellion, and it was the only way for us to get out of here. But I couldn't be a part of that. I couldn't destroy this way of life, not on purpose. You understand that, right?"

Quinn nodded, forcing a smile. "Always have. I know you're stubborn."

Wade smirked and punched him in the arm. "Hey, thanks a lot, Quinn." Then she hugged him.

Ghindel's lecture ended and the Maozeuists broke up to wander off into the village. Some of them began drawing water. Others hauled grain. Others watched over the children. But none of them took part in the rebellion efforts.

Ghindel shuffled over to Anguhra. The bandage wrapped around his head was fresh, but still stained with blood. He looked up at Anguhra, who glared back at him from under his hood. The two gazed at each other in silence for several seconds.

Ghindel spoke first, in English, which Quinn assumed was done because he wanted the Sliders to hear it. "I understand why you felt you had to do this, my friend."

"Good," Anguhra said. "Perhaps one day you will see that this was the right thing to do. It was what must be done."

"Perhaps," Ghindel said. "One day. But for now, I see only that Maozeu's dream has ended."

"No, it has not," Anguhra said. "We will end the Dynasty's grip on this world. Then you and all our people will be free to pursue the Way without distraction. That was Maozeu's dream."

Ghindel looked up. A trio of Manta Cruisers were making their way through the sky, wobbling slightly in their flight. "You are learning to fly the Kromagg flying fish."

"Yes," Anguhra said. "The Dynasty left behind a large amount of these ships. By mastering them, we will be able to cover more ground and defeat the Kromaggs on this world more quickly."

Ghindel nodded. "Then you will be using Dynasty weapons. And Dynasty ships. And fighting them with Dynasty tactics. And perhaps you will now don the Dynasty uniforms as well, since they are so comfortable? In the end, how will our people tell the difference between us and the Dynasty?"

Anguhra's narrowed his eyes. "They will know. We are not like them."

"And once you finish defeating the Dynasty on this world," Ghindel said. "What will you do? Has the thought of using their weapons and vehicles against them on other worlds not crossed your mind? Do you dream of traveling like them to other dimensions, battling them on other worlds? Do not answer. I do not want to hear a lie."

Ghindel shook his head. "You do not understand. You are too blinded by revenge to see you are already like them. The one thing the Dynasty hated most of all, the thing they were willing to kill us for, was the fact that we would not fight. We were not like them. We brought shame and fear to them. Dynasty's goal was to either convert us or destroy us. By your actions, you have done both for them. The Hundreds Years of peace has ended. The Dynasty has won."

Ghindel turned and trudged away, limping on his staff. Eska came to his side and helped him move through the devastated village.

Maggie shook her head. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't understand. Anguhra, I think it's a great idea. You have the ability to stop the Dynasty from expanding their empire to other worlds, and even to free the worlds they already have. You have the responsibility to use it."

Anguhra nodded. "Perhaps. I must...consider it. But come, your journey awaits you."

Quinn looked down at his timer. "Oh, yeah, you're right. It's time to slide."

Wade hugged Anguhra. "Bye. You shouldn't turn your back on Maozeu's Way. It's done so much for your people, it can't be thrown aside. I hope you do the right thing."

Anguhra lowered his eyes to his feet. "So do I."

Quinn's timer began to beep. He looked up at the web of light in the sky above. Right on schedule, the light flickered and died. It was the split-second they needed to open a wormhole and slide out.

Quinn pushed the button on the timer. The transparent beam lashed out to puncture time and space. The wormhole burst forth into a brilliant blue circle hovering in front of them.

Quinn watched as Maggie, Wade, and Rembrandt jumped into the wormhole and disappeared. He looked back at Anguhra and the village one last time, watching another fleet of Manta Cruisers sailed overhead.

"We have your world's coordinates," Quinn yelled over the roar of the wormhole. "When we get our timer back and get home, we'd like to come back and show you around our world."

"I would like that," Anguhra yelled back. "And perhaps, we can bring some of our peace to your world as well."

Quinn nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Then he took a running jump into the wormhole and disappeared into hyperspace.

THE END