Stars and Sliders
Slide Heil
by JSAGL
Chapter 1
San Francisco…
In the sky above the park, a wormhole opened. Remmy was the first to land, followed by Wade, the Professor, Ted and Quinn. As abruptly as it opened, the vortex vanished.
The Professor brushed his jacket off, and looked around. This Earth seemed very much like their homeworld. The park was relatively the same, though there did not appear to be any people about. “How much time do we have here, Mr. Mallory?”
Quinn pulled the timer from his jacket pocket and touched the control pad. “Looks like we’ve got about a week here, Professor. I don’t know about you, but after what we went through on the last world, I could use a little R-and-R.”
The group started walking through the park.
“I know what you mean, Q-Ball, all those vampires and demons, that was too much, though I did like that little girl that helped us, the Slayer,” Remmy remarked.
“Or was it the fact that on her world, you were her Watcher? I saw how she looked at you,” Quinn said as he gave a knowing look to Remmy.
“It’s strange, we’ve been to so many different worlds, and we’ve encountered duplicates of everyone except me,” Ted added as the group made its way to the center of the park.
“Odd, there doesn’t seem to be anyone about…”
Wade took ahold of Ted’s arm. “That is kind of weird, Ted, but considering some of the duplicates we’ve met, you should be glad…”
“Um, guys, I think I know why we aren’t seeing anyone out and about…”
Quinn pointed to the statue that on their world was of Abraham Lincoln. Ted Knight’s face turned white as he saw who the statue was…
“Dear God! Adolf Hitler!!!”
Chapter 2
Ted Knight stared up at the statue of Hitler in disbelief. A thousand emotions stirred in him at once. How could Hitler have won on any world? Was there truly a thousand year Reich here?
Remmy looked around the park nervously. There was still no one in sight, but if their luck was true to form, someone would be by soon.
“Q-Ball, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I really think we ought to get out of here. I don’t feel like seeing any Nazis come crawlin out of the bushes.”
Quinn exchanged glances with the Professor. They both nodded, “You’re right Remmy. Let’s head on to the Dominion. We’ll treat this just like any other slide, except we’ll lock ourselves in our hotel room and order room service.” Quinn took Wade’s hand and they headed on with Remmy following quickly behind.
The Professor was about to join them when he noticed that Ted was still staring at the statue, “Come along Mr. Knight. We had best make haste to the Dominion before the SS finds us here.”
Ted stared a moment longer, then turned to face the Professor, “What? Oh, yes, of course, Max. Let’s get out of here.”
The five sliders made their way out of the park towards the hotel. They passed a few people on the way, but no one spoke and no one made eye contact. Up ahead, Wade saw a man take a paper from the newspaper box, so she stopped to do the same. The headline on the paper threw her for a loop.
REAGAN EXECUTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST AMERIKA!
“Quinn, take a look at this… ‘Today in Washington, DC Ronald Reagan, leader of the Amerikaner resistance, was executed for crimes against the United States of Amerika and Germany. Also executed were two other resistance leaders, Norman Schwarzkopf and Martin Luther King.’ And look at this, we’re at war with Australia… and this…”
“Halt! Hold your hands up!!! Do not move!!”
The group was suddenly confronted by a group of Nazis holding submachine guns.
“Let me see your papers. What are you doing with this mongrel?” the Nazi leader asked Quinn, pointing at Remmy.
Quinn’s eyes blazed at the insult thrown at his friend, “Now wait just a minute…”
“Silence! Or I will kill you where you…”
The Nazi’s face turned pale and he gulped as thought he had seen a ghost, “Herr Knight! Professor Arturo! Please forgive me… I did not see you…”
Chapter 3
Taking advantage of the moment, Professor Arturo stepped forward and approached the Nazi leader. “Yes, indeed, you should be sorry. Herr Knight and I have important business here in San Francisco, you blistering idiot!”
The young Nazi started to sweat and lowered his gun. “My apologies, professor. High Command did not inform us of your arrival. Should you not be accompanied by your guard unit?”
Snatching the gun away from the young soldier, the Professor tossed it aside. “Are you questioning me again, young man? We are on a top secret mission. The idea was not to draw attention upon ourselves by keeping the guards out of site, but now you have succeeded in doing quite the opposite. Now go away before I have you hauled away. Do I make myself clear???”
“Yes-yessir…”
With that, the Nazi guards make tracks, leaving the five sliders breathing a little easier.
“Damn, Professor, you even had me convinced! I was about to run, too!” Remmy said, smiling and patting Arturo on the back.
“There will be time later for congratulations, Mr. Brown. Our best course of action now is to head to the Dominion Hotel and get out of harm’s way.”
Looking at Ted, Wade touches his arm lightly, “Ted, are you OK?”
“No, Wade, I’m not. If those men recognized me and Max, that can only mean one thing… on this world, we’re Nazis…”
Chapter 4
A few hours later:
Once registered at the Dominion, our five sliders locked themselves away in their room. Ted and Arturo’s counterparts had apparently stayed there before, as the desk clerk recognized them and asked if they would like the usual sent up to their room. The usual turned out to be a sumptuous feast, several bottles of champagne, the latest Amerikan newspapers, and two notebook computers. The last bit had surprised Quinn and Wade, who hadn’t expected such sophistication. The Professor was paying more attention to the food than he was anything else, while Remmy was luxuriating in the bathtub. Ted, meanwhile, was sitting in a chair, staring out the window.
“A deutschmark for your thoughts?”
Ted looked back to see Arturo take the chair across from him, “Very funny, Max. I take it the food was excellent?”
“Indeed. I’m not sure what our counterparts do on this world, but rank apparently does have its privileges.”
“Doesn’t it bother you at all that we’re in a Nazi-occupied America and…” A light bulb suddenly went off in Ted’s head. “Of course, I know where we are!”
He bolted out of the chair and knelt down beside Wade at her computer. “Wade, check the internet for mention of a group called the Freedom Fighters.”
Without breaking her concentration, Wade’s fingers deftly entered the search. “Hmm. There’s some information here on resistance groups and how they’ve failed, but nothing about any ‘Freedom Fighters’. Why?”
“Damn. I was hoping for a minute that we might be on Earth-X. Back in 1942, a group of mystery-men traveled to that Earth to help the Allies defeat the Nazis. They failed, unfortunately, but managed to keep up a strong resistance. In my shock at seeing that statue of Hitler I had almost forgotten about them.”
“How about I see what I can dig up on you and the Professor?” Wade asked, closing the Amerika Online search window and starting another.
The computer hummed and clicked for a moment, then over two-hundred entries came up. Wade clicked on the first, which was a biography of Ted Knight.
“Oh God…”
Chapter 5
“Sweet Jesus!”
None of the sliders could believe their eyes as the watched the information load on to the screen.
Ted Knight, Deputy Fuhrer of the Fatherland. In 1945, Herr Knight was instrumental in foiling a plot by US scientists that could have resulted in a crushing defeat for Deutschland. The Almighty, however, had greater plans for the Third Reich. On Dec 7, 1945, four years to the day that the US had entered the war, President Harry S Truman was attacked in the White House and forced to surrender.The Fuhrer appointed Herr Knight as Chancellor of the newly christened Amerika. He swiftly acted to remove the undesirables from the newly Deutsch soil. Negroes were returned to the slavery from which they had wrongly been freed. Amerikan Jews were rounded up and quarantined on Long Island. Within ten years, Amerika was the land that Der Fuhrer had promised it would be, thanks in large part to the efforts of Herr Knight. In 1975, he was promoted to deputy Fuhrer and has been running the day to day operations of the Fatherland. He has a wife, Doris, and two sons, David and Jack. He is one of only two people who has had access to Der Fuhrer since 1981, when Der Fuhrer went in to seclusion. The other is Professor Maximillian Arturo (see related article).
Ted’s throat went dry, but he remained silent.
“Well, Professor,” Quinn said looking at his mentor with an amused smirk, “care to see who you are here?”
The Professor raised his eyebrow at Quinn, “Proceed, Miss Welles.”
Professor Maximillian Arturo, the foremost scientist of the Third Reich. He was discovered by Der Fuhrer in 1978 at the University of Kalifornia. His theories about space/time and interdimensional travel caught Herr Hitler’s attention. He was brought to Berlin in 1981, just a few months before the Fuhrer went in to seclusion. It would be six years before he would be seen again, but even then, only brief glimpses. It has been reported, but unconfirmed, that he has developed a method to travel to other dimension in order to further the glory of the Third Reich.
The Professor stood up and harumphed, “Well, it seems that I am much the same on this world.”
“Well, I suppose if you consider working for the Nazis…”
The door suddenly flew open and a squad of Nazi soldiers entered the room, “Freeze!”
Hoping to cow them as he had done to the soldiers earlier, the Professor stepped forward, shouting, “What in the name of Adolf Hitler are you doing? Don’t you know who I am? I am Maximillian Arturo!”
“No, you’re not…”
A figure entered the room, dressed in the uniform of an SS Colonel. “…and you are not Ted Knight either. I should know, because I am…”
As he took off his hat, Ted was absolutely floored, “David!!!”
Chapter 6
“Uhhhhhh…”
Ted Knight awoke with a great pain in his head. As he lifted himself off the cold concrete floor, he felt the large bruise on the back of his head.
“Damn, that’s got to be an ugly mark…”
As his eyes adjusted to the low level lighting, Ted could see that he was in a prison cell. To his right lay another body. He quickly crawled over and shook him.
“Max! Max! Wake up!”
Professor Arturo slowly stirred and managed to sit up against the wall. “For the love of heaven, man, do you have to shout? My head is pounding quite enough as it is, thank you.”
“Sorry, Max.”
The Professor looked around the room, “Hmmph. You would think that being the counterparts of great leaders here that they could at least afford to provide us with hospitable accomodations.”
“I think that’s the point, Max, we’re counterparts.”
“Yes, I suppose so. Where are Mr. Mallory and the others?”
“I don’t know, Max. I can’t see any other cells and I don’t hear anyone.”
The two sat in silence for a moment.
“This doppelganger of yours, he doesn’t seem like a very nice fellow. I can scarcely imagine you participating in such activities as he has.”
Ted sat down next to his friend, arueful smile crossing his lips, “Don’t be too sure, Max. There’s a lot about me that you might not be aware.”
“Really? I would think that being Opal City’s world famous hero, as well as the premier astronomer of our time would be quite enough.”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you? tell me, Max, have you ever heard of the Manhattan Project?”
“Ha! Do I look like a college freshman, Mr. Knight?”
“Well, I was there at the table with Einstein and the others. Oh, the government sold us a bill of goods. It would never be used for evil, they said, never for destruction. Its presence alone would turn the tide in the favor of the Allies. We had to have it before the Nazis did. So we did our patriotic duty. Then Hiroshima came. Then Nagasaki.”
“Dear God, man, you can’t blame yourself!”
“I don’t anymore, Max, but it was a hard road getting there.
“I remember coming home that night. Starman had foiled yet another plot of the dastardly Mist. Then I turned on the evening news and I heard what had happened. I killed those people, Max, as surely as if I had pulled the trigger myself. At first I tried to ignore it. I continued on with my career as Starman and made wedding plans with my fiancé, Doris. We were married towards the end of 1945, and I fulfilled my promise to quit as Starman.”
Chapter 7
“Early in 1946, however, it all came back to me. Repressing all thoughts about it and throwing myself into my astronomy research had only made it worse… far, far worse. Doris found me at home, sitting completely still in a catatonic state on the couch. She wasn’t sure what to do. Even though I had agreed to stop being Starman, she felt she had no choice but to contact my former allies in the JSA. Hawkman and Green Lantern arrived, but they couldn’t reach me. They took me to see my physician, Charles McNider. Physically, I was fine, but mentally? I couldn’t deal with the guilt, Max, so my mind shut me down and tucked me away in a safe place. It wasn’t until late 1947 that I emerged, fully sane once again. It was difficult.
“Fascinating. What was it that caused you to emerge from your catatonic state.?” Max asked, totally engrossed in Ted’s story.
“A friend. Over the course of those two years, nearly the entire JSA came to visit me. Dr. Mid-Nite came weekly, but the others popped in every now and then, or so Doris said. Dr. Fate tried to reach my mind unsuccessfully. Wonder Woman brought her purple ray, but it didn’t work. Johnny Thunder, bless his heart, ordered his Thunderbolt to heal me without any luck.
“Then, one day in late 1947, Superman and Batman helped out on a case. They didn’t hang around with the JSA very often in those days. After the case, Dr. Mid-Nite asked Superman to visit me, since he was the only JSAer who hadn’t for some reason. Superman apologized for not doing so sooner, but he was kept so busy in Metropolis by the likes of Luthor and the Prankster, that he never got around to it.
“I remember Superman arriving vaguely, but I’ll never forget his words:
” ‘Ted, you did what your country asked of you. For that we are forever grateful. What you did helped to save lives, even if some were lost in the process. Forgive yourself. Your country is proud of you.’
“At that moment, it was like the fog cleared, and all I could see was that giant red S emblazoned across his chest. It was like America herself had forgiven me. I whispered to Superman, ‘Thank you.’ Doris fainted, but Superman caught her in time.”
“That’s not surprising,” Max said, “There are very few icons as powerful in their imagery as Superman. I shudder to think how long you might have been in that coma had Superman not existed.”
“But the one who truly nursed me back to health was Doris, my beautiful Doris. She visited me every day during those awful years. Any other woman would have left me and gotten on with their life, but not Doris Lee. She saved me.
“I became Starman only once again in 1948, when a case involving Hourman and a group of villains intent on taking his life prompted me to use the rod again. After that case I went back to my normal, married civilian life. Then in early 1951 I heard about what Congress was doing to the JSA. The JSA had been summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee, having been set up to look like Communists. That day the JSA folded, and they all went into retirement, for the most part. Wonder Woman continued to be active because of her special relationship with the government, and no one dared stop Superman, Batman and Robin, but the rest of them stayed out of sight, except for scattered cases here and there in their hometowns. Starman would not grace Opal’s skies again until 1964, when I got the call from the JSA. I remember looking at Doris. She just smiled at me, holding our newborn son, David, and told me to go. She was truly a remarkable woman.
“So you see, Max, there but for the grace of God go I…”
Before the Professor could respond, the door to the cell opened and a figure entered…
“That was a touching story, my friend. We may be more alike than I thought…”
Ted Knight found himself face to face… with himself.
The Professor leaned over to Ted. “This is ironic, don’t you think?”
Chapter 8
In another part of the compound, Quinn, Wade and Remmy were just beginning to awaken.
“Oh man, did anyone get the license plate off that truck?” Remmy said as he sat up, holding his neck.
“Where are we? The last thing I remember is those Nazis swarming all over us…” Wade asked as she pulled herself up.
Quinn looked around the room. There was a small window to the outside and a heavy iron door with some sort of small passthrough. It was locked naturally.
“Oh man…”
Remmy went over to Quinn. “What is it, Q-Ball? Are you OK?”
Quinn was frantically patting himself. “I’m fine, but they took the timer.”
Wade chuckled. “That’s standard operating procedure isn’t it? Someone always captures us, they separate us, and they take the timer. Almost seems like a plot for a bad Star Trek episode.”
“Yeah,” Remmy replied, “except Mr. Spock always had some Vulcan mumbo jumbo that could get them out of it.”
“Or Captain Kirk seduced the incredibly hot woman that was there…” Quinn said with a smile.
“Oh please…”
A few hours went by and there was no contact with the outside. They tried banging on the door, but no one came. Bored, Remmy began to sing softly…
“Amazing grace… how sweet the sound… that saved a wretch… like meee…”
Wade and Quinn listened intently as Remmy began to get into the song, singing louder, when they heard someone at the door. It opened to reveal a teenager with unruly black hair, wearing a button down shirt and jeans.
“Man, where’d you learn to sing like that? That’s awesome. I haven’t heard that song anywhere except on some of my Dad’s old records,” the young man said.
“Well thanks,” Remmy said, “I’m surprised that anyone on this world even knows the song.”
“Oh, my name’s Jack, by the way. I just have a real fascination for the old stuff, before the friggin’ Nazis ruined everything.”
Quinn stepped forward. “Is that why you’re here? To help us escape?”
The kid chuckled. “Yeah, right. This whole place is wired with electronic surveillance, dude. There’d be friggin’ goosesteppers all over you in a heartbeat. Professor Arturo sent me down here to get you.”
“Well, let’s not disappoint the man…”
Chapter 9
A few minutes later, the trio, led by Jack Knight reached the lab of Professor Maximillian Arturo. Quinn was enraptured by the sights he saw. Even on his world, computer equipment was not this sophisticated. Wade too was drawn to the sights, while Remmy felt like he’d just stepped into Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.
“Wade, look at this… they’ve been working on sliding technology too… this is amazing… maybe they could help us get home…”
“Indeed, young man, we would be delighted to, in exchange for your assistance…”
The three sliders looked up to see a man approach them. He was dressed in a tweed jacket and a bowtie and affected an English accent. He had the same dark hair and beard, but this Professor Arturo didn’t exactly look the same. He stuck his hand out. “Professor Maximillian Arturo at your service.”
Quinn shook the man’s hand. “Quinn Mallory. These are my friends Wade Welles and Rembrandt Brown. Umm, no offense, Professor, but why would I want to help Nazis?”
The Professor laughed, “Ah, my boy, there is much I need to explain to you. You see, I have been working to overthrow the Nazi regime here, and with your arrival, I may finally be able to make that happen. Let me show you my research.”
“What about the electronic surveillance Jack told us about?”
“Really, Mr. Mallory, do give me a little credit. I’ve successfully circumvented it for years.”
While Quinn and the other Professor walk through the lab, Wade pulled Remmy aside. “Doesn’t something strike you as odd about this Arturo? He only vaguely resembles our Professor, and he’s not heavy, more muscular. And he has a strange look in his eye.”
“Three words, Wade: Logan Saint Clare. She was Quinn’s double on that one Earth and they looked nothing alike. There’s no law that says all duplicates have to 100% identical.”
“Hmmm… I don’t know, Remmy. Something about him just strikes me the wrong way.”
Chapter 10
Ted Knight sat looking through scrapbooks of his doppelgangers life. So very much the same and so very different. He saw his wife Doris, and their sons David and Jack. David had grown up very much in the Nazi tradition, much to his father’s dismay. Jack, on the other hand, showed much more of his mother’s influence. His interests were in the past and he seemed to shun much of the Third Reich’s ways. Ted laughed slightly at that. On any world, Jack was always a rebel. God, how he missed his boys.
He looked through the pictures of Doris. She was so beautiful. It brought back a lot of memories for Ted. He was glad at least that this Ted had known the love of this wonderful woman. The only question remaining in his mind was…
“Why?”
Herr Knight spoke the question as he entered the room. “You’re wondering how could I have embraced the Nazi cause? How could I be worthy of a woman like Doris and embrace Hitler’s dream?”
Ted closed the scrapbook. “Something like that. But before you answer, where did Max go?”
Herr Knight took a seat opposite Ted. “Professor Arturo summoned him to the lab. Your Max is different from mine. With you and me, it’s like looking in a mirror. With him and my Arturo, it’s like the mirror cracked. They resemble each other sure enough, but they aren’t identical like us.”
“Identical? I’d hardly say that. I fought Nazis. You embraced them.”
“Where do I begin, Ted? It seems that prior to 1945, my life was very similar to yours. Where you were a costumed hero, I was part of an elite military group whose purpose was to assist the US government against Germany and Japan. We might have even known some of the same people. We started in the Winter of 1940 and helped to stop Hitler’s invasion of England; me, Al Pratt, Bruce Wayne, Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Carter and Shiera Hall, Rex Tyler, and Jim Corrigan. The group changed over the years: Jim was the first to die in the line of duty. He was replaced by a fellow named Ted Grant. Quite a scrapper, that one. We had other folks too that helped out from time to time: Terry Sloane, Charles McNider, John Law, Libby Lawrence, Steve Rogers, John Chambers, and so many others. Maybe you knew them on your world? In any event, I left the group full time to work with Oppenheimer and Einstein and others on the Manhattan Project, just as you did, but with a difference: I sabotaged the project.”
“You what?”
“That’s right. I couldn’t handle the thought of something I helped create would be used to kill people, so I sabotaged it. I thought I was doing the right thing. But Hitler then had the chance to develop the bomb first. And he did. That’s how he won the war. So you see, Ted, my actions caused the Nazis to win World War II. Could you have lived with that? On your world, you helped the allies to win and saved countless millions. You were truly the better man…”
Chapter 11
Ted just sat and stared at his counterpart as the impact of his words sunk in.
“I had made peace with what I did years ago, but I’ve still had those doubts nagging at the back of my mind. Now…”
Herr Knight smiled. “Now you know what could have happened… your actions saved lives, Ted.”
Ted looked at Max. “Superman was more correct than he could have ever known.”
Herr Knight frowned. “How I wish there had been a Superman on this world.”
Ted stood up and looked around the room. “How do you explain your being Hitler’s right hand man? I can’t imagine any reason that I would ever willingly work for a megalomaniac like him.”
“I had good reason. When Hitler tapped me for a leadership position, I jumped at the chance. This was my opportunity for atonement. Conquest is easy, Ted. Ruling, that’s hard. You’ve seen the technological advancements. That was my doing. Once Hitler’s mind began to go, he relied on me more and more. It was I who ended the slaughters in Afrika, I who helped a group of computer nerds to establish the internet. We were growing up, Ted. A lot of the old leadership had died: Himmler, Göering… and then five years ago, old Adolf kicked the bucket. I thought this would be my chance to restore freedom to the globe. Keeping Hitler’s death a secret was easy. It gave me the authority I needed to make real opportunities. Then he came along and changed everything. His charisma, his connections, his power base. He’s running the show, Ted, not me. I’ve been reduced to a figurehead. I’m as much a prisoner here as you are… granted, my accomodations are better, but…”
“Who are you talking about?” Ted said impatiently.
“Arturo, of course. He’s the real leader of the Third Reich.”
Chapter 12
Back in Professor Arturo’s lab, Quinn and the other Professor were working on equations and super-string theory, while Wade was running computer simulations. Remmy and Jack were discussing music from the 40′s when two guards came walking in with the sliders’ Professor Arturo.
The Professor looked around the lab in astonishment. “My word! This lab is phenomenal.”
“Why thank you, Professor,” the other Professor said as he walked towards our Arturo, hand outstrectched.
“I… hmmm. I must say, I expected us to look more alike,” our Arturo said as he shook his counterpart’s hand.
The other Professor smiled, “Yes, well so did I. Perhaps you would be so kind as to join young Mr. Mallory and me in solving a riddle here…”
As they went over to the chalkboard, Major David Knight and two guards entered the room. The guards set down two large trays, while David approached the other Professor. “Your lunch, Herr Professor. I need to speak to you privately.”
“Of course; you two carry on. I won’t be a moment,” the other Professor said as he and David went to the far corner of the room.
Putting the trays down, one of the guards slid a piece of paper next to the tray and nodded at Remmy, making sure that neither the Professor or David was looking, Remmy lifted the lid off the tray and grabbed the note. With Wade and Jack in front of him, Remmy opened it:
“You are in grave danger. 2:30.”
Remmy looked at the clock on the wall. It was 20 after 2.
Chapter 13
Ted Knight looked around the room. It was very Teutonic-looking, as befitted a German castle. On the far wall was a picture of a woman, the most beautiful woman either Ted had ever seen.
“She’s remarkable, isn’t she?”
Our Ted looked back at his counterpart and smiled. “Glad to see that some things don’t change between worlds”
Just then, Ted’s son David burst through the doors. “Father! Professor Arturo requires your presence at once.”
“What’s going on?”
His son just looked at him emotionlessly. “He did not say. He just wishes for you and your doppelganger to join him post haste.”
Pointing his hand toward the door, Herr Knight nodded at Ted. “Let’s not keep the good Professor waiting, shall we?”
***
Back in the lab, this world’s Professor Arturo was fuming. “Damn it all to Hell!!” He began breaking things while the four sliders looked on.
“What’s going on, Jack?” Remmy whispered.
“Damned if I know, dude, but my idiot brother must have given him some bad news,” Jack replied.
Just then, David Knight entered the room with his father and Ted.
“Herr Professor…”
Just as quickly as he started violently, this world’s Arturo suddenly became docile and turned to the two men, “So good to meet you, Mr. Knight, my name is…”
The color drained from Ted’s face as he recognized this man who resembled Max Arturo.
“Dear God in Heaven… Vandal Savage!”
Chapter 14
“What the devil is a Vandal Savage?” Professor Arturo said looking at the man he had thought was his counterpart on this Earth.
“Major Knight, keep your guns trained on our visitors. I fear my cover has finally been blown,” Arturo/Savage said, pointing to the sliders.
Savage walked up to Ted and leered at him. “So, you are familiar with me, are you?”
Ted met Savage’s stare, unafraid. “Yes. Vandal Savage, or should I say Vandar Adg, has been an acquaintance of mine. You’re an immortal. An encounter with a meteor in prehistoric times bathed you with a strange radiation, giving you tremendous intelligence as well as immortality. You’ve lived for thousands of years: on my world, Savage was many important historical figures: pharaohs, kings, even a Pope. I imagine your story is much the same here.”
“Yes, it is. I had gone underground at the start of World War Two, hoping to side with the victor when it was all over. Imagine my surprise when the little madman with the moustache actually won. I tried several times unsuccessfully over the decades to infiltrate his organization, only to be detected each time. But no matter. Time is something that is always on my side.”
Quinn spoke up: “So you became Professor Arturo then?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. I met the real Arturo in San Francisco when he was just beginning his research. He commented at the time how we resembled each other, and I came to agree. I killed him shortly thereafter and assumed his place. I finally had the unimpeachable credentials I needed to infiltrate the Third Reich and take command. Herr Knight thought he was in control, but I wield the power. Even his own son, dear David, has cast his lot with me.”
“So what happens now?” Remmy asked.
“Well, Professor Arturo and Mr. Mallory will stay here. Herr Knight will continue to act as figurehead. The rest of you are expendable.”
At that moment, the grandfather clock in the room struck a single tone, indicating that it was 2:30. The lights in the room suddenly went off.
Chapter 15
The room exploded into chaos. With the lights out, Quinn took advantage of the confusion and began to type furiously at the computer. It apparently had its own power source, as it remained unaffected by the power outage. The room started to fill with gas. Savage yelled to his troops to retreat and find the source of the attack. Remmy and Wade fell to the ground, gasping for air. Herr Knight grabbed the Professor and Ted and tried to lead them out of the room when a figure wearing a gas-mask blocked their exit. Ted tried to stay conscious, but he and the other two succumbed to the effects of the gas.
Savage saw what Quinn was doing. “Get away from that!”
Before he could touch Quinn, who was desperately trying to hold his breath, a figure materialized between Quinn and Savage and punched Savage in the face. The ancient one laughed and balled his fist to return the favor when another masked person appeared and stopped Savage’s fist cold. He then head butted Savage who promptly fell to the ground. Five others, all clad in black and gas masks, were making short work of the soldiers. The sirens started to blare.
“We can’t hold back the entire Nazi army. We’ve got who we came for. Let’s get out of here.”
The other six nodded in agreement. Without a word, as though they knew each other’s very thoughts, the seven people scooped up the Sliders, as well as Herr Knight and Vandal Savage. Jack Knight appeared at the doorway outside the room.
“Follow me.”
Chapter 16
Herr Knight awoke with a start. What in the world was going on? He looked around at the small room, which appeared to belong to someone. He looked at the wall and saw a picture. It was the Stars and Stripes, something he hadn’t seen in decades. The door to the room opened and Theodore Knight thought he was seeing a ghost.
“You???”
***
Some time later, Rembrandt Brown awoke, but this time, instead of bars and a cold floor, he was in a room that resembled a U.S. Army Barracks. Well, if you discount the fact that they were in some kind of cave. Remmy got off the bunk he was lying on and went to wake up Quinn.
“Q-ball, get up. We’re out of the frying pan, but I think we may have ended up in the fire.”
Slowly, all five sliders stirred, but there was no sign of Herr Knight, Vandal Savage or the seven figures in black.
“Where the devil have we gotten hijacked to this time?” Arturo wondered.
Wade sat to next to Quinn on his bunk. “Looks like some sort of military operation. How much time do we have before we slide, Quinn?”
A shocked look on his face, Quinn patted himself down quickly. “I don’t have it! Professor?”
“Neither do I!”
“Aw, no. Of all the worlds to get stuck on, why does it have to be Nazi World?” Remmy said, leaning his head against the cave wall, “We couldn’t get stuck on Beach World, or the world of hot babes or even a world like ours. We had to get stuck here. Figures.”
“You’re not stuck anywhere.”
The sliders saw Jack Knight enter the room. “It’s cool. This timer thing says you got 37 minutes.” Jack handed the timer over to Quinn. “C’mon, my Dad’s got some people he wants you to meet.”
Chapter 17
The sliders, led by Jack, entered a bigger room, which had a large oval table in the middle. Along the walls were banks and banks of computer equipment. Herr Knight was sitting at the table, grinning like a Cheshire cat
“Glad to see you’re all awake. Welcome to Rhode Island.”
“What the devil?” Max asked, looking confused. “How in the world did we get to Rhode Island so quickly?”
“All will be answered in due time, professor, or at least before you slide. I’ve got someone I’d like you all to meet.”
One of the black glad figures emerged from a doorway, but he wasn’t wearing a mask. He was an older man, dark hair with gray at the temples. His face showed the wear of the years, but he was still in top form. Ted Knight recognized him immediately.
“Bruce? Bruce Wayne?”
Wayne looked at the man, and then at Herr Knight. “He really is your counterpart.”
“Yes, he is. Ted, you remember that group I told you I belonged to in the ’40s? Bruce was part of that. After the war, most of the group ended up being captured by the Nazis and killed. This was before I had any clout at all. Bruce was the only one unaccounted for. I’d wondered what happened to him.”
Wayne gestured to the table for the sliders to sit. “You were right. The others did die as patriots. I was the only one who managed to escape capture. John and Libby Chambers were the last two caught. The three of us were on a mission together in 1950 to sabotage a Nazi power plant near Atlanta. We succeeded, but they were killed in the explosion. I spent the next five years in retirement. The whole thing seemed pointless. I then received a phone call that changed my life from Doctor Salvatore Erdel. He was actually Jewish, but changed his name to Salvatore to keep out of the Nazi prison camps. That night, Erdel introduced me to a man with some remarkable powers, a man from another world. He had some remarkable powers too. Together, we began a successful campaign against the Nazis. Over the years, others joined us and now we had a group of seven that had some limited success against the Nazis.
Five others came into the room. Bruce stood up and put a hand on each one’s shoulder in succession. “This fellow is the man Erdel introduced me to: John Jones, code-named Manhunter. The fellow with the blond buzzcut is our resident scientist and a pretty swift guy in his own right, Barry Allen, code name Flash. This guy is our resident pilot and with his mystical ring, he’s pretty fearless. His code name is Daredevil. We’re not quite sure where this guy came from, but he can breathe underwater and command sea life. His name is Arthur, but his code name is Amphibian. The beautiful lady you see here comes to us from a secluded island, where her people have lived away from our world for centuries. Her name is Diana, code name Amazon.”
“The Justice League!” Ted said with a smile.
Wade spoke up: “I don’t mean to quibble, but you said there were seven of you. I only see six.”
Bruce looked back to the doorway. “You can join us, you know.”
Chapter 18
“Hi.”
The final member came into the room. He had dark hair with a spitcurl coming down his forehead. He walked slightly hunched over and wore some very thick glasses. He pushed them up with his forefinger and smiled nervously at the group.
Bruce put his arm around the man’s shoulder. “This is Clark. He has some remarkable powers as well, even greater than John’s. We found him on a mission to Kansas two months ago. We had gotten wind that the Nazis had found some sort of Ubermensch, and were experimenting on him in a facility in Kansas City. We managed to rescue him, but he’s very reluctant to use his powers.”
“Well, Ma and Pa were afraid that if the Nazi’s ever found out what I could do, they’d turn me into a monster. It was hard enough hiding me after my rocket landed that night, but with the snow as thick as it was and a blizzard raging, they didn’t have any trouble getting people to believe I really was theirs. They died last year, and I accidentally let my powers show. That’s how I got caught.”
Ted looked over at Herr Knight. “Looks like you got your wish, Ted.”
“What do you mean?”
“This man, Clark: He’s Superman.”
A light bulb went off in Clark’s head. “Hey! I like that. Can that be my code name, Bruce?”
Ever the party pooper, Professor Arturo cleared his throat. “This is all nice and well, but if you have such great power, why haven’t you used it? Do you not see all the suffering around you? Ronald Reagan, Norman Schwarzkopf and Martin Luther King were just executed for God’s sake. Are you all a bunch of blistering idiots?”
Bruce put his arms on the table, “We’ve tried, Professor. I’m glad you think it’s so easy, but with Clark here, we think we can finally turn the tables. In fact, we had planned to take out the Nazi leadership, Herr Knight and Professor Arturo and Hitler when you come sliding in and ruin everything.”
“But Herr Knight was your friend,” Remmy said.
“Friends are expendable. We thought Ted had betrayed us, but thanks to John’s scan of Ted’s mind, we found out that Savage was the true culprit. That’s why we came in to rescue you and why we plan to go back, ” Bruce said with no small amount of irritation.
“Go back?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. We’ll go back and Ted will resume his role as Fuhrer. We’ll announce that Hitler passed away in his sleep and that Ted and Arturo are in charge. We’ll slowly but surely dismantle the Nazi machine. In a way that will be less bloody than a coup.”
John’s shape became fluid and he morphed into an exact duplicate of Savage.
Arturo fell back in his chair. “Incredible!”
“And just so you know, ” Diana said to Arturo, “Reagan, Schwarzkopf and King are all still alive. John posed as King, and using his ring, Hal and Barry subbed for the other two. They teleported out just before they would have been killed.”
Herr Knight looked troubled. ‘The only bad thing is that the information on sliding could still fall into the wrong hands.”
“No,” Quinn said, “I deleted it all during the confusion when they rescued us. There won’t be anyone sliding out of here except for us.”
Epilogue
“Guys, we’ve got thirty seconds,” Wade said as she looked at the timer.
Ted walked over to Herr Knight. “I… I want to thank you. You’ve allowed me to see what could have happened in my life and I’ll be forever grateful.”
Herr Knight grasped Ted’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug. “Thanks for letting me see that I am a decent person. I’d lost site of what I was trying to accomplish.”
The two men separated and Ted joined the others. Wade pointed the timer towards the wall, “Do you think we’ll end up back in California somewhere?”
The vortex opened up.
“Girl, I’ll just be happy as long as there aren’t any Nazis in this next world. Professor?”
Arturo sighed. “Very well, Mr. Brown. I guess I must resign myself to always being your landing pad.” With that, Arturo jumped into the vortex and vanished. Remmy went next, followed by Wade and Quinn.
Ted looked back for a moment at the heroes standing there and then he too jumped into the vortex. It closed moments later.
***
Ted emerged with the others on the grounds of what appeared to be a military base. There were sentries all around. It was not their typical landing place. Within moments, a group of soldiers arrived and drew their weapons.
The woman leading them pointed her gun and yelled, “Put your hands up where I can see them.”
The sliders did just that as two other soldiers came forward and frisked them. Satisfied that they were clean, they nodded at their commanding officer.
She lowered her weapon. “You picked a bad time to slide in here. What’s your name?” She said looking at Quinn.
“Uh, Quinn Mallory. You know how we got here?”
“Yes, we’re working on sliding technology ourselves, but for a different reason. A cluster of pulsars is on a trajectory that will take them near enough to the Earth to irradiate every part of it. Our scientists had discovered sliding, but could not keep our wormhole stable. We’re hoping you can help us do just that.
Arturo stepped forward. “Dear God in heaven! How long before the pulsars hit?”
“A little over three days.”
Wade looked at the timer. “Umm, guys, we’ve got another problem too.”
“What is it, Wade?” Ted asked as Wade showed him the timer.
“Max, We’ve got five weeks here.”
The woman became impatient. “Look: We can help each other, but we’ve got to get busy now. I’ll take you to meet the Colonel.”
“Wait,” Quinn said, “What’s your name?”
“Beckett. Captain Maggie Beckett.”
To be Continued in Stars and Sliders: Exodus Redux
