Part 3
Quinn tried to handle the situation carefully. All they would have to do is tell the Professor they were not his Quinn and Rembrandt. It couldn't be too hard, this Arturo was a slider and more than likely familiar with the concept of doubles. Still, Quinn found it hard to find the words.
Professor Arturo noticed Quinn's ashen expression and his seeming inability to speak. "What's the matter, man? You look as though you've seen a ghost."
"In a manner of speaking," Quinn said softly.
Arturo looked perplexed. "I beg your pardon?"
At just that moment, Wade arrived. 'Great', Quinn thought, 'now it'll be even more difficult to walk away'.
"Hey, guys, check this out!" Wade exclaimed, brandishing a movie poster for "Howard The Duck - Part Five", which starred her double on this world. "Wild, huh? The guy at the movie theater took a little coaxing to give it to me, but I knew I just had to have it."
Quinn knew the charade wouldn't last much longer. "Look, guys, I..." and then Quinn stumbled, nearly smashing his head against one of the concrete tables.
"Mr. Mallory, are you all right?" Arturo asked. "You look quite flushed." Another moment passed, and the Professor's face now showed genuine concern. "Are you sure you and Mr. Brown recovered completely?"
"Recovered?" Quinn wondered aloud.
"Yes, you were quite delusional when we encountered you on the last world. Mumbling something about 'Maggie and Colin', I couldn't quite catch it all." The Professor felt Quinn's forehead, then Rembrandt's, as both wore expressions that barely masked total shock. "Well, you two seem alright. We'll have to have a more careful examination done when we land on a world that has decent health care."
"Not likely," Wade retorted. "You know, Quinn, if we had all stuck together on that world, like we're supposed to, none of this ever would have happened. And just exactly who is this Maggie?" Wade asked and then playfully poked Quinn in the ribs.
This was getting out of hand. Quinn had to get out of there and catch his breath. "Listen, uh, guys, Remmy and I have something to do before the slide, so.. we're going to go do that.. now." Rembrandt almost rolled his eyes and the Professor and Wade exchanged confused glances as the two of them walked off.
"There's something strange going on here, Crying Man."
Rembrandt let out a sigh. "The Professor said something about us, our doubles, being delusional and talking about 'Colin and Maggie'. How could he know that?" When Quinn said nothing, he continued. "This is so strange. Like waking up from a nightmare."
Quinn registered what Rembrandt had said, but chose to concentrate on other things for now. "We've got two minutes until our gateway opens. Still no sign of Maggie or Colin. From what the Professor's double said they still have close to an hour on this world, so it might be possible for us to go look for them without raising their suspicions."
"I don't know, Q-ball. I think they're going to be sticking pretty close to us until the slide."
Quinn rubbed his eyes tiredly. "If they don't show up in time, we're stuck on this world. Not just for 29 years, but for good."
Rembrandt took it upon himself to say what they had been avoiding. "Unless we go with them." He pointed to their former fellow travelers' doppelgangers.
"Are you nuts? We can't just go sliding off with two people from a parallel world?" Quinn exclaimed.
"Well, excuse me, but isn't that what we have been doing?" Rembrandt replied, with an equal amount of emphasis.
Quinn looked distant. "Touche."
"Look, it's not like it's going to be permanent or anything. They look exactly like the Wade and Arturo we knew..." Quinn was about to cut him off, but he continued. "so they must be pretty similar. Maybe they even have the ability to track wormholes."
"We don't know that for sure, Remmy," Quinn said skeptically.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Rembrandt said with a twinkle in his eye. Quinn reluctantly followed him back to where the others stood.
End Part 3
