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sliders: gilded mirror
a fan-fic by thomasmalthus

Part 5

Arturo had taken the luxury of renting a car, or at least what passed as a car in this world, so that they could take in the beautiful scenery of this earth's San Francisco. Quinn was amazed at the sight of the buildings and the winding streets that seemed so tiny, yet so immense, from their bird's eye view vantagepoint. An even more spectacular view was hinted at by a lookout tower extending upward from the hillside.

"Do we have time to maybe take a quick look from the tower?" Wade asked. "I just can't seem to get enough of the vistas here. It's like I'm seeing the city for the first time."

The Professor smiled. "It is rather refreshing, isn't it, Miss Wells?" He looked at the timer and then replied, "Thirteen minutes seems enough time to me. After all, you only live once. Mr. Brown, Mr. Mallory, will you be joining us?"

Rembrandt looked like he was about to say something, but Quinn interrupted him. "No thanks, Professor. The view from here is fine. Right, Remmy?"

"Yeah, sure." Rembrandt said with more than a little reservation.

Not for the first time, Professor Maximilian Arturo examined his friends with equal amounts of concern, fear and doubt. "Very well, then."

Once Wade and the Professor were out of sight, Quinn decided to tell Rembrandt just what he'd been thinking all through their little sight-seeing tour. "You made a decision without even consulting me?"

Rembrandt had known it was coming. "Look, we've got to find Colin and Maggie, right? Sliding with these people is the only way to do that."

Quinn wasn't phased. "Aren't you forgetting something? What about our doubles? You know, the people they think we are."

Rembrandt thought for a minute. "Once we catch up with the others, we can tell these guys the truth and they can slide back here.."

Quinn's voice started to have more venom. "But what if they show up for the slide?"

The Crying Man was running out of answers. "When we explain our situation, I'm sure they'll let us go with them to find our friends."

"Oh, right! 'We've lied to you since the moment we met you but I'm sure you'll let us slide with you for the foreseeable future'." Quinn normally wasn't so sarcastic, but this situation had really gotten under his skin.

"Look, we've got no choice!" Rembrandt tried to calm himself down, but Q-ball was really pushing it. "If we don't go with them, we're stuck here."

A look of resignation crossed Quinn Mallory's face. "Yeah, I know. But I think we're dodging the main issue here, Remmy. You like this, don't you? Being with them?" He nodded in the direction of the tower which the Professor and Wade now looked like they were getting ready to descend.

Rembrandt defended himself. "Yeah, I like having things back the way they were. You sayin' you don't?"

"For the last time, Remmy, it's not them, it's their doubles!" Quinn said as if he were talking to a small child.

Not really wanting to respond to Quinn when he was in 'pure logic' mode, and seeing the stormy look in Quinn's eyes, he decided to get into the boy genius' brain for once. "You're really having problems with this, aren't you?"

Quinn paused a few seconds before speaking. "I just don't like spending time with people who are this close to being someone I care about, people that I.. we've lost... and then going through that same heartbreak of losing them all over again when we find out how different they really are."

Rembrandt sighed. "Yeah, I know you're right. I can tell my brain that, but my heart just won't believe it."

The Professor and Wade stepped down from the tower and approached Quinn and Rembrandt. "Seven minutes until we depart," Arturo said, looking at the readout on the timer. "Let's find a nice, quiet place to slide, hmm?"

The foursome left the rental car behind and began to walk out of the scenic park and into the city. They eventually settled on an alley which looked too rough for the electric cars to venture through. The Professor held up the timer. "Three, two, one..." The vortex opened and it seemed to Quinn to be exactly like the one they had been sliding through since the beginning of their journey.

Arturo jumped through first, followed a few seconds later by Rembrandt. Wade flashed Quinn a sly and knowing look, then jumped through the void herself. Quinn hesitated. For the millionth time in about an hour, Quinn argued internally over whether this was the right thing to do. Quinn took one last look around for their counterparts and then jumped headfirst into the vortex. The feeling of uncertainty he normally felt when he slid was even more powerful than usual.

End Part 5

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