Wade paced nervously by the door. "You got that fixed yet?"

Quinn didn't even bother looking up. "Not yet, I'm working as fast as I can."

"Well it's not fast enough for me."

"Look, Wade," Quinn started. He put the tools down on the table. "Nobody more than me wants to get off this world as soon as possible, but I've got to get this working. It's going to take time." He picked the tools back up again and concentrated on the tiny circuit boards and chips in front of him.

Wade didn't say anything in response. She looked around the room. It was dirty, it was bare. There were no windows, just the door. They'd used what little furniture in the room to block the door, as best they could. The only things left were the small table and lamp that Quinn was using. The fact that they had found a room with a working lamp made her feel a little better. But until they got off this hellish world, she wouldn't feel like her old self.

She put her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Her right hand brushed the photo contained there. The photo. It was all she had left. All that she had to remind her. She took out the photo and looked at it. The tears threatened to well up again. She wiped her eyes with her free hand and put the picture away.

She walked over to Quinn and put her hand on his left shoulder. "I'm sorry," she started. "It's just that..."

Quinn stopped what he was doing and put his hand on hers. "I know, Wade. I know." Quinn turned to look at her. His black eye was still swollen shut. How he could work like this she couldn't figure out. But he had to. He was their last hope. He removed his hand and went back to work. She pulled away from him and went back to her pacing by the door.

She looked down at her watch. Twelve hours. Half a day, that's all that had passed. She knew when they landed on this world they could be in for trouble. It just looked like one of those worlds. She had hoped that their time here was short. It wasn't as short as she hoped, but shorter than most worlds they visited. They were supposed to be here about fifteen hours. Fifteen hours. Of which twelve were gone.

They had to hold out for three more hours. Keep out of sight, avoid detection. They had succeeded so far, but another three hours?

She stopped pacing as she heard a noise in the hallway outside. Quinn didn't move. She grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled it tighter, reducing the amount of exposed skin. She'd have to replace it. She held her breath as she heard the doorknob start to turn. She'd locked the door hadn't she? She must have. It couldn't end like this, trapped like animals. The knob wriggled a little bit then stopped. The footsteps outside started up again and faded as the person moved out of range.

She let go of the front of her shirt and let out a deep breath. She didn't realize that she had stopped breathing. She heard Quinn do the same. He started to work again, but it was slow going. She started to pace again.

When this whole thing had started, all those years ago. Or it seemed like many years ago, she had only known Quinn. She had met the Professor on that fateful day, the day her life was turned upside down. She then met Remmy too. Remmy. He was a little distant at first, but they soon got to be the best of friends. They all had. A family, really. But now it was just back to Quinn and her, again.

She stopped pacing. She was tired. Tired and hungry. When did she last eat? About the same time as the picture was taken. On photo world. You couldn't do anything without being photographed or video taped. It made it a little tough to be alone, to spend time with yourself. She leaned up against the wall and slid down it into a sitting position. It felt good to rest, not to move. She could feel herself falling asleep. But she couldn't fall asleep. They would be leaving soon.

"But I'm so tired," she thought to herself. She also knew that Quinn would get her up in time to slide. She'd just rest her eyes for a few minutes.

* * *

"How's a person supposed to get any privacy around here, you wonder?" Remmy commented passing the third block with more cameras than a sensational murder trial would have on their world.

"I have no idea," Quinn answered looking at the surroundings. Yes, it looked like S.F., but an S.F. where the video camera was as abundant as the VCR was back home.

"I suppose that's one of the trade offs you'd make to reduce crime," Arturo added. "From what we've seen, this society is so afraid of crime, and people not being punished for their crimes that they've given up some of their basic freedoms to live a safer life."

"But no doors on the restroom stalls? And video cameras recording it all?" Wade asked. "That's taking it a little bit too far."

"I agree, Ms. Wells," Arturo replied stopping to talk to her. "But, to these people, they would rather lose that privacy than to chance having someone walk off with their child. You know that public restrooms in large shopping facilities are known to be a place that kidnappers go to disguise a child they are taking."

"I know, I know."

"How much longer do we have on this papa-razzi planet anyway Q-Ball?"

Quinn pulled the timer out of his jacket pocket and looked at it. "Another five hours and some change." He then checked his watch. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting hungry. It's been almost twelve hours since we've last eaten."

"An excellent suggestion Mr. Mallory. Any suggestions?"

Wade pointed across the street. "How about that open air cafe?"

"Let's go see what they've got," Quinn answered stepping off the sidewalk. He headed across the street and the others quickly joined him looking at the menu. They all looked at each other and headed toward the entrance.

As the waitress took away the last of their desert plates Remmy leaned back in his chair. "I take back what I had said at one point about us always having trouble with the food. That's the first good meal we've had in a long time."

Arturo put down his tea cup. "Indeed it was Mr. Brown, indeed it was."

"Here is your bill, and photograph," the waitress said interrupting the conversation. Quinn grabbed the bill as Wade picked up the photo. A shot of the four of them enjoying their meal. The corner of the photograph was marked with the name of the restaurant, the name of the waitress and the date and time.

"What's the photo for?" Wade asked looking it over.

"Proof of location. An Alibi. You know, just in case. It's a service we're happy to provide."

Wade handed it off to the Professor. "Of course, I forgot. Thanks."

Remmy looked at her. "You obviously don't have a photographic memory."

The waitress walked away with the bill and Quinn's payment. "Like I haven't heard that joke a thousand times," she muttered to herself.

"Well, that killed a hour," Quinn noted getting up.

* * *

The sound of a chair scraping across the floor woke Wade. Quinn had stopped in mid stand and wasn't breathing. Wade looked over at the pile of furniture in front of the door and listened as well. Nothing. "Maybe they didn't hear you," she mouthed quietly to Quinn. He nodded and got out of being in between the chair and table without making another sound. Wade got up and stood next to him. "How's it going?" she asked, her voice a little louder.

"Slowly," he replied. "It took a big hit. I'm having to repair a lot of damage." He stretched his arms and neck. "I just need to take a break." He paused. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm ok. Tired. And hungry."

"Yeah I know the feeling, but I'd rather not venture out right now."

"Me either."

Quinn stretched a little more and then quietly sat back down at the table and continued on his work. Wade walked around the room for the next half hour or so and watched him. She got to know the room dimensions perfectly. Seventeen casual steps this way, ten casual steps that way. She must have circled the room some two dozen times.

She put her hands back in her pockets, still not sure of where to leave them. Her hand brushed the photograph again. She pulled it out and smiled. She hadn't understood the reason for the photograph when they first received it, but she was pretty sure that this outcome wasn't what the photo had been originally created for. She ran her left index finger over the picture. She briefly touched the faces there. Two of the faces that stared back at her she'd never see again.

* * *

The vortex deposited the quartet of dimension-hopping comrades and then closed behind them. After picking themselves up from various positions in which they landed, they looked around. The first thing Wade noticed was the trash. The trash and the smell. It smelled as dirty as it looked, and it looked awful. She looked at the buildings. Yeah, they looked like San Francisco to her, but not the San Francisco she knew. A lot of the buildings were condemned looking, a lot of them burned out. Some even looked as though they had been destroyed in an earthquake and never fixed up.

"I think it's a safe bet to say, once again, we haven't made it home." The Professor, the first to speak. She didn't realize that no one had spoken before now. She was so engrossed in what she was looking at. She looked up and down the street. Not a soul to be seen. Not a light anywhere. Fortunately there was a moon, even at half crescent, it provided some light.

"How long do we have here, Mr. Mallory?" The Professor asked.

Wade turned to look at her companions as Quinn pulled the timer out of his pocket. He flipped open the case. The light from the displays illuminated his face. "Fifteen hours. Give or take a few minutes."

"Yeah, well, I'd gladly give a lot of minutes to get out of here! Where the hell are we?" Rembrandt asked. Wade smiled to herself.

"It looks like San Francisco," she replied. "But what the hell happened?"

"I don't know," the Professor replied. "But I suggest, for all our sakes, we get moving along and try to find a place a lot less conspicuous. I think the last thing we want to do is to attract undue attention."

Quinn closed the timer and put it back in his jacket pocket. "Good idea, but which way?"

Wade looked behind her and in front of her. It was a toss up either way. But it did seem a little brighter in the forward. "How about that way? It seems a little brighter."

"Good suggestion, Ms. Wells," Arturo declared starting to walk in that direction. "Good suggestion, indeed." The quartet moved forward, in search of civilization, any civilization.

* * *

"I think I've almost got it." The sound of Quinn's voice brought Wade out of her daydream.

"What?" She asked turning to face him.

"I said," Quinn answered getting up and stretching. "I think I've almost got it. I should know in a few minutes."

"Thank God," Wade replied.

Quinn came over to her and put his hands on her upper arms. She looked up into his face. The face with the cuts, bruises and the black eye. The blood on his lip had dried and cracked, making the cut look far worse than it probably was. "We are going to be ok. I'll get us home. You have to believe that."

She pulled her hands up to his arms. "I know. I do believe it. Besides you, it's all I got left."

They stood that way for a couple of seconds before Quinn broke the embrace. "I'll only be a few minutes more."

"Great."

* * *

"What do you suppose it is?" Remmy asked.

"Looks like some sort of encampment," Quinn replied.

"Do we risk going down?" Arturo said.

"I wouldn't, if I was you," a new voice said. The group whipped around to face the new voice.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked as Wade looked at the person. He was dirty, that's for sure, just like the city. And his clothes, ragged, pieced together. His hair was long and unkept, probably hadn't been washed in a long time.

"The Gaters don't like guests."

"Is this San Francisco?" Remmy asked.

"What's left of it. You're obviously not from around here."

"We're just passing through," Quinn replied. "What happened to the city?"

"The earthquake, that's what happened. Destroyed the city, cut us off. The peninsula became an island."

"Do you mean the 1989 quake centered in Santa Cruz did all this?" The professor asked incredulously. "But that was only a 7.1 and was 100 miles from here."

"7.1? No, it was at least an 8.5 and it completely destroyed the south bay and points south."

"What about the federal government? Or the government of California? Didn't they come in and try to repair the city?"

"They would have, if they weren't so tied up in the middle east, or if they had any money. The country is flat broke, was flat broke. The city fell into anarchy. The Gaters? They rule the city now. I wouldn't go..." A new sound interrupted the warning. The sound of sticks being struck on metal, wood, anything that would resonate sound. "You better get inside, and hide, quick!" their tour guide told them. He took off towards a group of buildings.

"What's going on?" Remmy yelled after him.

"The Gaters! They are raiding!" Their tour guide yelled to them as he took off.

Quinn, Wade, Remmy and Arturo all looked around. They couldn't see anything. The "alarms" disappeared, almost all of them at the same time. Quinn stepped forward. "I don't like this."

"I think we best do what the gentleman says and get indoors, post haste," The professor replied.

"Can't argue with that," Remmy answered moving forward.

As they moved toward the closest building a pair of shadows moved in front of them. Everyone stopped. A light came from behind them. Wade turned around to look.

A person holding a torch was all she could see. "Well, what do we have here?" The light bearer asked, to no one in particular. He sized up the sliders. "Looks like fresh meat!" The others laughed. Wade and the others looked around. They were surrounded by at least ten people. If that could be used to describe them. Each one carried a club or metal pipe of some type. "We haven't had a new female in a long time!"

Quinn bent down and grabbed a piece of pipe near him. He pulled Wade in behind him. Remmy and the Professor came around on either side of her and blocked her in, protecting her. She noticed that each of them had a stick or pipe as well.

"Oh isn't that sweet," the leader spoke again. "Take'em."

Wade felt the guys tense up as most of the raiders came rushing in. Quinn managed to knock the weapon out of the first attacker's hands and had started to swing back at him when he was hit from the other side. He got pulled away from Wade. Remmy was faring about well as Quinn, keeping a couple of his attackers at bay. Arturo was attempting to disarm the two who were attacking him. Wade reached down to pick up a weapon as Arturo was taken down by his assailants. She felt a hand close around her arm. Thinking it was Quinn or Remmy she dropped her weapon as she was pulled up to her feet. It wasn't either of them! It was one of the attackers! He dragged her away from the guys. She struggled with him but couldn't break his grip. She screamed and tried punching him with her free hand. It didn't do any good.

She turned around to call Quinn's name. She couldn't see Remmy or Arturo. Quinn was staggering, fending off a final attacker. "QUINN!" she screamed.

"Save your breath darling," she heard the leader say as the Gater dragging her stopped. "You'll need it." He grabbed the front of her shirt and partially tore it as she screamed for Quinn again. She heard a thud behind her and felt the hand on her arm loosen and fall away. The grip on her shirt loosened as the leader looked in surprise behind her. She took the opportunity of distraction and kicked out with her right leg. Her aim was true as her foot connected with the unprotected genitals of her tormenter. She heard the breath leave his body as he staggered back in pain. She brought her hands together, fingers interlaced and brought them up. Again, her aim was true as she connected her closed hands with his lower jaw. She felt satisfaction as she heard his jaw snap.

"Wade," she heard Quinn behind her. "Come on, we have to go." She turned around. Quinn was standing a few feet behind her, leaning heavily on the pipe he had used as a weapon. His left eye was swollen shut, his lips bleeding. His shirt was torn, showing the skin underneath. The skin that would be black and blue before long. She took a couple of steps toward him. "We have to go."

"Where are..." she started to say. Quinn reached out and held her with his hands.

"They," he paused. He couldn't look at her. "They didn't make it." Wade shook her head. She tried to break Quinn's grip. "Wade, they're gone. And we will be too if we don't get out of here."

She tried harder to break away. "Let me go!"

"Wade, we have to go. There's nothing we can do."

She struggled for a few seconds more before finally giving in. She fell to the ground sobbing. She couldn't believe that they were gone. She felt Quinn's strong arms envelop her and lift her off the ground.

* * *

"We shouldn't have left them," she said quietly, speaking more to herself than anyone else.

"What?" Quinn asked looking up. "Did you say something?"

"I said we shouldn't have left them."

"They were gone, Wade. I couldn't do anything for them. I tried, but I couldn't."

Wade started to reply when she heard the doorknob start to turn again. She headed over to Quinn. He picked up the timer and snapped the last piece on. "Did you finish it?" she whispered.

"It's all set," he replied. "I hope," he added to himself.

The sound of the doorknob turning was replaced by a loud pounding, as though someone was attempting to smash the door in with a large object.

"How much time?"

Quinn opened the timer and looked at it. "Ten minutes. But that door's not going to hold that long."

Just as he spoke those words the upper part of the door splintered and parts of it gave way. Wade screamed as a hand reached through to unlock the door. Quinn grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and threw it at the door. His aim was true and the chair hit the target. The person on the outside of the door screamed and the arm was withdrawn. Quinn put the timer in his pocket and ran over and grabbed the chair. The banging on the door resumed and after a few more hits, the hole widened.

Wade could see their intruder. It was the leader of the Gaters. The guy she had kicked all those hours ago. He looked angry. No, he looked more than angry. He looked ballistic. He sent his arm back through the door to go for the lock again. Quinn got ready and tossed the chair again. But they were ready for him. A second hand came through, a hand holding a pipe. The second hand deflected the chair, knocking it away. The leader's hand reached the doorknob and turned it, unlocking the door. Wade and Quinn watched in horror as they started to push the door open, pushing the furniture blockade aside. Quinn grabbed the chair again. Wade moved behind him and grabbed a broken piece of furniture, a table leg from the look of it.

As the furniture was pushed aside, and the doorway open enough to allow entrance, the Gaters started to swarm in. The first two entered, clubs and pipes in hand. Quinn rushed forward to meet them, chair at the ready. He deflected the swing of the first attacker and barely made the turn to fend off the second. As a couple of more invaders entered, Wade could see that Quinn had become helplessly outnumbered. The attackers were getting past his chair and were starting to strike home with their hits. Quinn started to falter and a couple of the attackers got by him.

Wade crouched as they came toward her. She brought the table leg up, ready to strike. The attackers just snarled. The first came in to attack. Wade swung wildy with her table. She managed to connect the end of the club with the wrist of her attacker causing him to howl out in pain and drop his weapon. The second attacker moved his pipe between his hands, not giving her an easy target. She watched in horror as Quinn was knocked to the ground. This proved to be a fatal mistake as her attacker easily took the weapon from her hand. He grabbed her by the waist and hauled her up over his shoulder. She tried striking him with her fists as he held her by her ankles, her waist over his shoulder. But it wasn't doing any good. She couldn't cause enough damage to stop him, let alone slow him down. She screamed out for Quinn as she tried to keep herself in the room. She watched as Quinn tried to get up, to keep the attackers from hitting himself, but he was unsuccessful. She watched as one of the attackers delivered a fatal blow to his head. "QUINN!" She passed out in exhaustion and fear.

* * *

Wade awakened. She looked around and realized she was lying down in a sleeping bag on the ground. She sat up with a start, "Quinn?"

Quinn came over and put his hand on her head and smoothed her hair. She looked at him. He looked fine, no bruises, or black eyes.

"I had the strangest dream."

"It wasn't a dream."

Wade looked around. She couldn't see the Professor or Remmy. "Am I going to be ok?"

"You're going to be fine."

She looked at him. He seemed happy, almost giddy. "You look so happy." Something she thought strange if Remmy and the Professor had been killed.

"I am happy. Everyone is getting healthy now. And we really made an impact. We brought the people on the last world a cure. No matter what happens from here on in, sliding made a difference." Obviously the dream she experienced wasn't what Quinn thought it was. Quinn lowered his voice. "Get some rest."

Wade was about to protest but then realized just how tired she was. She returned back to the prone position in the sleeping bag and closed her eyes. Just as she succumbed to the sandman she could have sworn the Professor mentioned something about cannibals.