Mother and Child

Forty-five minutes left before the slide. Quinn, Colin, Rembrandt and Maggie run through a bombed-out building, trying to evade capture from the Kromaggs. Making their way up a mountainside, the team tries to figure out what kind of Kromagg complex they stumbled upon, but with less than an hour to go, are more concerned with the next window of opportunity.

Meanwhile, at the Kromagg base of operations on this world, a Kromagg commander confirms that a breeder escaped from the compound and is heading up the mountain to evade capture. They are surprised to find that there are four other people in the same vicinity and search parties are dispatched to retrieve the rogue humans.

As Maggie and Quinn make their way down the mountain to make sure there aren’t any Kromaggs following them, they see a woman carrying a pack on her back with a child in it. Meeting up with her, they learn her name is Christina. Quinn introduces himself and is shocked when she says that she was friends with Wade Welles. Together, they walk back to the cave where Rembrandt and Colin are holed up.

At the cave, Christina tells Rembrandt that Wade forgives him for deserting her in the Kromagg camps. She also reveals that her child is a Humagg, a hybrid human-Kromagg that is the result of the breeder camps. Christina says that she hasn’t come up with a name for the child yet, and that he’s 8 months old.

Quinn, Rembrandt and Colin are laughing it up at the mouth of the cave when they hear noises. Heading down the mountain again, they see Kromaggs searching the area. Maggie says that since they are looking for a woman, she’ll take Christina’s place. The Kromaggs take the bait and are ambushed by the Sliders. Quinn forces the Kromagg guard to open up the database to retrieve Wade and Christina’s files. They find Christina’s but not Wade’s, and entering her coordinates into the timer, slide, but not before having a car chase.

Christina is enlightened to be back on her world, which is full of untrusting citizens who loathe the Kromaggs. Martial law is the rule. Making their way to Christina’s house, her father Jonathan is ecstatic to see her… until he sees her Humagg baby. He refuses to accept the child as his grandson and heads out to the garage to fix a chair. Quinn and Rembrandt follow, trying to learn a little about the weapon that killed the Kromaggs. Only after some intense discussion does Jonathan reveal that Christina will need their support in a couple hours.

Upstairs, Maggie and Christina goo-goo to the child. Maggie admits that she wishes she had a kid, and goes to talk to Quinn while Christina puts the child to sleep. They hug, they give each other pecks on the cheek, they talk… it’s all very cozy until Christina calls Maggie into the room because the baby is dying. They grab the child and are taking him to the doctor when Jonathan stops her and tells Christina it won’t matter, since the illness affecting the child is an anti-Kromagg virus in the air.

It’s around this time that the Kromagg subcommander that fathered the child arrives, wearing an environmentally shielded suit and demanding the return of his child. Maggie pulls a gun, and when the Kromagg offers a truce, they lower their weapons. He asks if there is a cure for the child’s sickness, and Jonathan says there is. Using Kromagg mind control techniques, he wrests the information from Jonathan. Quinn and Maggie agree to accompany the Kromagg to the military complex where the antidote is secured. Using his mind control techniques, the Kromagg makes the military believe that he is Jonathan, and that Quinn and Maggie are Air Force officials in from Washington, D.C.

Back at the house, the Kromagg administers the antidote to his child, pocketing some for himself. He then pulls out a gun that was obscured and begins to exit the house with the baby. The Sliders, Christina and Jonathan follow, and Jonathan charges at the Kromagg, taking several of those pellets Rembrandt got hit with in The Dying Fields, but giving the rest of them the chance to subdue the Kromagg. Both Jonathan and the Kromagg die, and Christina slides with the Sliders to the next world, since she has nothing left on this one. Christina also has a name for her child: Jonathan.

Worlds Visited

	Kromagg Outpost 117 It’s no place to raise a child, even if it is a Kromagg-human hybrid.
	Former Kromagg Outpost 71 A viral countermand against the Kromaggs was unleashed into the atmosphere here, making it free from Kromagg rule. Dynasty Directive states travel to this world is punishable by death.

Details

• Christina is running through Red Sector 5 in her attempt to escape from the camps.
• It takes about one full year before a Humagg baby starts to develop Kromagg characteristics.
• Christina’s information is available in the Kromagg Central Database.
• Unit 4 is the group of Kromagg soldiers that are ambushed by the Sliders.
• Christina’s Kromagg ID is JK1125.
• The Kromagg database, when shut down, reads “Error 807: Please contact system administrator.”
• The signs around town read:
  • Vigilance always! The Pig-Faces may be back!
  • Obey Martial Law.
  • The only good Kromagg is a DEAD Kromagg.
  • Curfew violators will be shot.
  • We have a Victory Garden.
• Sonski and Associates Land Survey has been around since 1905.
• The Wrightwood Cafe, last seen in The Alternateville Horror, is back!
• Jonathan Griffin drives a new Ford Taurus with the license plate 2BAI249.
• Christina’s childhood pediatrician was Doctor Bailey.
• The military compound where the vaccine is being stored is part of the 222nd RESDEV of the United States Air Force.
• O level clearance and higher is required to get access to the vaccine.
• Jonathan, Jr. is being carried in a Kelty Kids sack at the end of the episode.

Character Information

• A shocking turn of events: it seems that Rembrandt did not do everything in his power to save Wade while detained by the Kromaggs. In fact, Rembrandt left her behind and did little to save her. This may account for his guilt lately.
• Rembrandt may not be able to read Kromagg, but Quinn sure can (see Nit-picks).
• Christina, along with hundreds of others, were running through their downtown as Manta ships flew overhead and killed them all. Christina’s two brothers died in that attack.
• Christina’s mother also died in the war.
• Christina had dreams of returning home.
• Maggie wants to have kids.

Notable Quotes

• “It is humanly impossible to overreact to the Kromaggs.” — Quinn.
• “You could always name him ‘Maggie’.” — Maggie, talking to Christina about the baby.
• “Why do I always have to come up with the good idea?!” — Quinn. Haven’t we heard this before?
• “You read Kromagg?” — Quinn.
  “He bought it!” — Rembrandt.
• “It’s not over ’till the fat ‘Magg croaks.” — Rembrandt.
• “Do you have continental breakfast?” — Quinn, jokingly, after Christina tells them they can stay at her house as long as they need.
• “Seems like we’re always taking care of somebody else.” — Maggie, to Quinn, after expressing desires to have a child.

Nitpicks/Errors

• The Kromagg monitor in the compound is reading that all four Sliders together after Quinn and Maggie have gone down the mountain to make sure no Kromaggs are following them.
• Why does Quinn tell Rembrandt there isn’t enough time to go and get Wade when all he has to say is that she isn’t on this world anymore? How bad does that sound?
• Richard Manning has some funny ideas about what infrared is. To him, it means that you can see, from great distances, people that might be obscured by mountains. Kromagg scanners can see over mountaintops. This is not possible. At best, I-R is good for night vision by detecting thermal differentials. They aren’t blips on a monitor, and unless the detector has a zoom function, it doesn’t matter if Rembrandt is streaking through the forest naked, he won’t be visible.
• Also, how is the Kromagg mainframe picking up “several indicators”? They didn’t know the Sliders were there, and they don’t have tracking devices in them, so unless they have a satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the camp monitoring all movement of humanoid activity, this shouldn’t be possible. And I doubt that the Kromaggs would be that paranoid.
• Where did the Kromaggs obtain all of these Humvees in pristine shape? The one that the Sliders commandeer is in fine condition.
• Why would a Kromagg soldier, under any condition, help a human? Please give me an explanation.
• The Kromagg information on Christina is in the Kromagg language. How does Quinn interpret this to enter her home earth coordinates?
• The plasma blasts that hit the Slider’s Humvee do not damage it.
• Colin says that there is ten seconds on the timer before the slide. 14 seconds later, the gateway opens.
• I’m not even going to get into the Sliders driving the Humvee through the vortex.
• What are the odds that the coordinates of Christina’s Earth Prime would dump the Sliders a block from her house? About as great as them returning to the Oracle compound in Prophets and Loss.
• Why does Rembrandt stash a plasma rifle while Maggie keeps her gun? This is a plasma rifle that almost killed Rembrandt in The Dying Fields. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to keep something like that?
• For a war ravaged world, Christina’s hometown is in pretty good shape.
• Small world! Jonathan Griffin lives in the same house used in Just Say Yes.
• Is Quinn lying to Jonathan that he doesn’t have the last world’s coordinates? It’s been established since The Exodus, part II that the timer can store the coordinates of parallel worlds.
• I thought the Kromagg commander said it was considered high crime to travel to Christina’s Earth Prime? Then how did the subcommander acquire a translocation device and the equipment to keep him alive on that world?
• How can the Kromagg’s piece of paper fool the computer into thinking it’s an O-level security card?
• Isn’t it amazing that it was light out during the entire time the Sliders were on both worlds? 10 hours of non-sunrise, non-sunset light? Nope.

Neatpicks

• There were a couple of references to Humagg soldiers that we saw in The Dying Fields.

Guest Stars

• Natalie Radford as Christina Griffin
• Brian Cousins as Korindos/Kaplan
• Steve Rankin as Kreeshax
• Jim Metzler as Jonathan Griffin
• Brian Perry as Soldier One
• Angelo Spizzirri as Guard
• Akrosia Dimetros as Townsend