Slide by Wire

It’s night, at a military base. Maggie walks into a men’s bathroom, exchanges a few pleasantries with the guard taking a piss next to her, then knocks him unconscious. She slices open his arm and removes a small metallic device. Walking outside, she uses the device to open a door that’s been secured. The room is a lab, and Maggie steals a small chip that’s been implanted in a soldier’s neck. Rushing, Maggie changes out of her disguise and catches up with Quinn, Colin and Rembrandt. They slide, but another Maggie, our Maggie, comes running out after the vortex. It closes, and she collapses to the ground, MPs taking her back to the bunker.

On the next world, Quinn chastises Alt-Maggie for being so late and asks if the base has sliding equipment. Alt-Maggie, however, is ecstatic to be in a new place; she pets the horses and clamors to go and explore the surroundings. Stepping outside, they witness the trial and execution of a man in possession of Tech — technology. Ironically, the villager is condemned to death by radiation poisoning in the belly of El Diablo Nuclear Facility.

Back on the previous world, Maggie comes face to face with Colonel Burke, who suspects Maggie might be a little off-kilter. She explains that the Uniform Rules of Conduct have been repealed, allowing a possible traitor to be shot on sight. Maggie is escorted back to her barracks and encounters Siskin, her double’s co-pilot. Maggie learns that pilots on this world are “enhanced,” given a direct tap to a neural network to boost reaction times and flight coordination. She sneaks out to another office to look for information on this world’s sliding capabilities when she runs into a walking version of her dead husband.

On Medieval World, the four Sliders sit around the table of a local pub and discuss lying low. Alt-Maggie, however, persuades Quinn to dance with her. They kiss, but she starts feeling ill and stumbles outside. Wandering to the inn, Alt-Maggie places her pirated chip in the implant section on her neck. She immediately feels better.

Steven Jensen has a very heated debate with Maggie. It seems she could have resigned her commission, but stayed on and let her own husband administer the operation that classified her. Maggie slinks back to her bunk and falls asleep.

In the morning, Alt-Maggie buys some odd fruit for Quinn and herself. She sluffs off her illness the previous night to a rough slide and the local grog. The two discuss why they never got together, with Quinn saying they are just friends and that with everything else that’s going on, initiating any kind of relationship would be a mistake. Alt-Maggie is disappointed, but Colin arrives with Rembrandt and takes her horseback riding. Rembrandt expresses concern over Maggie to Quinn, but Quinn dismisses her strange behavior to finally putting her personal tragedies behind her.

Maggie oversees the integration of new technology into Siskin’s body. At first it greatly increases the flight capabilities of the pilot, but the computer goes into overload and fries his brain. Colonel Burke decides that since Maggie is next on the flight roster and doesn’t want her to waste time coaching a new partner that she’ll be moved to the next phase of pilot enhancement. What Maggie finds frightens her: decapitated heads immersed in a bioelectric gel that connects the mind of the deceased pilot to the plane’s computer. Maggie’s brain is to “captain” the rest of the crew. She appeals to Steven by admitting that she’s from a parallel world but he does not believe her.

Colin and Alt-Maggie return from riding, and while walking towards the inn, Alt-Maggie experiences another seizure and runs to an alleyway. Rembrandt follows her and watches as she takes the chip from her neck. Confronting her with this evidence, Alt-Maggie knocks Rembrandt down, then reveals to the town that Rembrandt is carrying the timer — a dangerous piece of Tech for which he is arrested.

With only a few hours until the slide, Alt-Maggie and Quinn are discussing where Rembrandt might be when Colin runs in and declares that Rembrandt’s been charged with heresy. They set out to rescue him.

Back on the base, Maggie is ready to undergo the operation when she proves her identity by showing Jensen her lack of implants (suppress your laughs here). Astonished, Jensen agrees that she must be from a parallel earth, but Colonel Burke busts in, brands Maggie a traitor and orders her to become a living computer. Maggie urges Steven to help.

Rembrandt is on trial when Quinn gets up and delivers a speech on the ills and evils of technology before activating the timer. Alt-Maggie collapses and asks to just die here, but Quinn, Colin and Rembrandt drag her through the wormhole to the other side. At the base, Alt-Maggie sends an email through her implants to Steven, who lets the four inside the base. He then proceeds to try and perform the operation on Alt-Maggie, fudges the death and brings her back to life after Colonel Burke leaves. Maggie has a moment of closure with her deceased husband and slides with her friends from the lab.

Worlds Visited

	Pulsar Triple Prime Highly similar to Pulsar Prime had it not encountered a rogue group of pulsars from a collapsing galaxy/globular cluster. The Cold War still burns red hot, leading the USAF to make some very strange staffing decisions.
	Medieval World A feudalistic world rebuilding itself from some kind of technological calamity, a horror that has made any modern devices an anathema to the public.

Details

• The Dodgers exist on Pulsar Triple Prime.
• Alt-Maggie’s badge reads United States Armed Forces.
• The cover of the book that the citizens of Medieval World use as law reads El Diablo Nuclear Facility Operations Manual.
• Siskin’s computer readout says:BIO SYSTEMS V.M.P.
  DANGER
• The EPP (Enhanced Pilot Program) raises neural stimulation up to 180% of normal.
• Alt-Maggie is administered 250 cc’s of chromosol and up to 400 milliamps of electrical charge to be revived.

Character Information

• Alt-Maggie hasn’t ridden a horse since she was a child.
• Maggie’s middle initial is E.
• Alt-Maggie and Dr. Jensen haven’t done anything as a couple since her admittance to the EPP.
• Quinn thinks of Maggie as just a friend, and while the thought of a relationship with her has crossed his mind, feels that their mission is too important to muck up with romance.
• Siskin had a wife and two children.

Money Matters

• Alt-Maggie purchases some blue fruit.
• The Sliders are able to buy beer and lodging in town without problem.

Notable Quotes

• “I don’t want to know what’s behind door number 2.” — Quinn, after seeing the trial of a man with a computer monitor on Medieval World.
• “It’s not about being good, baby, it’s about being fearless!” — Alt-Maggie, instructing Quinn that physics mixers can teach a thing or two about dancing.
• “How come you and I never got together?” — Alt-Maggie.
  “Maggie, we’re … good friends.” — Quinn, clearing up a few things.
• Any variation from prescribed DOE and/or corporate operating procedures is punishable upon appeal or review, by immediate suspension and/or termination. — the El Diablo SOP Manual, taken a little too far.
• “Like the butter churn, it can produce the sweet buttery goodness or it can produce the sour milk of funkiness!” — Quinn. Don’t look at me, I don’ know either.
• “My name is Quinntar, and now I’ll destroy you all! HAHAHA!” — Quinn.
• “That was your rescue plan? You churning the buttery goodness?” — Rembrandt.
  “I don’t have writers, you know!” — Quinn.
• “Unfortunately, the transformation will rid you of any seditious urges.” — Colonel Burke, discussing Maggie’s forthcoming decapitation.

Nitpicks/Errors

• You can clearly see the cushion under the hay when the Sliders land on Medieval Earth.
• The lab equipment in the military base was last seen in Virtual Slide and Double Cross.
• For a world that’s so steeped against technological marvels, do you really think they’d have boxes of matches?
• Likewise, would there be a cheese store? With a ready-made sign?
• Okay. Let’s get this straight. Both Maggies are so physically alike that the only way to tell them apart is to see if they have neural implants (hehehe, implants). This tends to denote an identical genetic structure (in addition to the fact that they’re doubles, et. al). Why, oh why, then, would Jensen say that the gene treatment they’ve been trying to imprint on Maggie wouldn’t work? Simple: because writers have no idea what a DNA sequence is.
• I’m not even going to get into the whole neural e-mail thing. C’mon…
• Wouldn’t a base similar to Maggie’s on Pulsar Prime or Pulsar Double Prime have a Colonel Rickman?
• Don’t Meg Foster’s eyes freak the hell out of you?

Guest Stars

• Meg Foster as Colonel Burke
• John DeMita as Doctor Steven Jensen
• Bobby Jacoby as Siskin
• Nicholas Worth as Magistrate
• John J. Flynn, Jr. as Villager