Seeing in Black and White

A fanfic by Slider8

This is a "Lost Episode" for Season 1. It is an episode that is supposed to
happen in the first season, probably around the end.


1.
A whirling blue circle appeared in the air. Colors spun around and a tunnel was
going into the middle. The circle began to enlarge as people started coming out
of it, one by one.

Rembrandt was first. The R&B singer was thrown out and flung into a brick wall.
Wade came next. She landed on top of Remmy, and accidentally kicked him in the
leg. Professor Maximillian Arturo came next, followed closely behind by Quinn.
"What a ride, eh, Professor?" Quinn said
"Oh yes. There is nothing more enjoyable than being hurled around at high
velocities and then pushed out into a brick wall!"
"Calm down, Professor." Wade said
Remmy got up from the ground and limped towards the rest of the group. "Next
time Wade, watch where you’re kickin'!"
"Sorry."
The Sliders stopped chatting for a few seconds so that they could take a look
around. They found themselves, once again, in the cluttered basement of Quinn
Mallory. Quinn became ecstatic with the thought that he might be able to use the
equipment here to get them home.
"Professor, turn on the power switch over there by the stairs." Quinn said.
He quickly walked around the basement looking for something of use. "Professor,
turn the power on!"
"Uh, Mr. Mallory, there is no power switch..."Arturo replied
"What?!"
Quinn ran over to the wall and searched for the power box.
"I don't understand it." He complained
Wade was looking around the basement and then mentioned to Quinn, "I don't see
anything electrical at all!"
Quinn looked at Arturo. "How can that be?"
"I don't know Mr. Mallory, lets go upstairs and have a look around, shall we?"
said Arturo.
They walked up the stairs and then exited the house. Suddenly, a man approached
them.
"You better get yourself back in them slave quarters 'for Massa finds ya and
beats ya good."
He was pointing directly at Rembrandt.



2.
Rembrandt stared at the man with confusion on his face. "What the devil are you
talking about?"
"Are you crazy 'o somethin?" the man replied. "Where'd you get them clothes? You
stealin from Massa?"
"Listen man, I didn't steal nothin from nobody!" Remmy said
"Hahahaha! You sayin you bought them! Ha! You really do got a imagination 'don
ya boy?"
"We've been out of town for awhile, can you tell us what you are talking about?"
asked Wade
A look of confusion and question appeared on the old man's face. He stared
blankly at the Sliders for a few seconds before answered. "Where the hell you
been? Canada?"
"Actually my good sir, yes." Arturo said.
"Yeah, they don't got us slaves up there."
"Slaves? You're slaves?" Remmy said
"Of course, ain't you?" the man asked Remmy.
"Hell no! There hasn't been slavery since the 1800's when the North won the
Civil War!"
"You people really are out of touch, ain't you? Maybe you didn't know, but the
South won the Civil War! Slavery's been around since then."
Rembrandt almost fell off of the porch when he heard what the man had to say. He
couldn't believe that every African-American in the United States was a slave.
Remmy had dealt with the fact that many of his ancestors were slaves before the
Civil War, and had not thought about it in years. This was just too much for
him.
Remmy got up and began walking away, shouting and cursing at the sky. Wade ran
after him. "Remmy! Remmy stop!"
Rembrandt stopped and stared out at the fields of people being whipped and
working like dogs under the hot noon sun.
"It's alright Remmy, everything is going to be fine." Wade sympathized with
Rembrandt. She knew that he was hurting. Bad.
"It's not alright, Wade! My people have been dealing with racism for years! This
is the last thing that I needed to see. Damn it Wade, it's not fair! Just a bunch
of lazy citizens that have to ruin other people's lives, because of skin color!"
"Listen Remmy, I know it's not fair. We all know it's not fair. Let's just lay
low and stay out of sight until the slide."
"No Wade! I can't just hide in the shadows and watch people get unfair
treatment, just because they're black!" Remmy became more emotional and angry
with every second that passed.
"What else are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna help them..."


3.
"Mr. Brown, are you insane!?"
"No, Professor, I'm as sane as ever." Remmy and Arturo were having in argument
about Remmy's decision.
"I owe it to these people to help them. I owe it to myself." Remmy was
infuriated. He couldn't stand watching his race being whipped and beaten for
plowing a field wrong or mouthing off.
"Rembrandt, you can't do this! We can't get involved with these earths!" Quinn
butted in.
Wade was sitting in a chair with her head in her hands, thinking about what she
could to do help Remmy get through this. She never imagined that they would be
in this deep of a situation.
"Listen Mr. Brown, if you try to help those slaves, you could get caught..."
Arturo hesitated "...or even killed."
Rembrandt stared blankly across the fields, watching the torment that these
people were going through, and then responded.
"I don't care. If I help save even one life, it'll be worth it."
Wade couldn't believe what he had just said. He was willing to give his life for
someone else's. Someone that he didn't even know.
Wade finally said something, "What about us Remmy? Are you just going to leave
us?"
Remmy hadn't thought about that. But, because of his angry attitude, he
responded harshly. "What do I matter to any of you? Quinn was the one who got
me in this mess in the first place! I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for
him!"
Quinn knew that one day this would come up. He felt a hammer of sorrow hit him
in the gut. He began explaining that the whole thing was an accident, but he
never finished. Remmy stormed off the porch and disappeared into one of the
cabins. The rest of the Sliders followed him. They couldn't let him do something
like this.
They entered the cabin, but found no one inside. It was difficult to see because
there were no lights and only one window. Quinn was baffled. "Where could he
have gone? He can't just disappear..."


4.
Rembrandt fumbled around in the small underground hide-out for a light. The
woman next to him sat down on a box and stared at Remmy. "Whatcha lookin' for
boy?" The woman was young, maybe 23, and was in good shape. When she had seen
Remmy running from three white men, she hid him in the basement.
Rembrandt kept searching, "Do you have any lights down here?"
"What's a light?" The woman seemed very confused.
Suddenly, Rembrandt remembered about the parallel worlds. "Nevermind." Remmy
also sat down.
"Why you runnin from them white folk? What'd ya do?"
"I didn't do anything. They are my friends. I just needed to get away from them
for awhile." Rembrandt was again confusing her.
"You friends with white folk?"
"Yep. I know it may sound strange, but I'll explain it later."
Rembrandt could easily tell that the girl was eyeing him. He could tell that she
liked him. And he also liked her. She's just a little out of my age range, he
thought.
"So, ah......Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"
"Trina. What's yours?"
"I'm Rembrandt, nice to meet you Trina." Remmy was watching her gaze at him with
dark brown eyes. She was beautiful, he thought. Rembrandt couldn't help but
stare at her. He could tell that she was watching him too. A girlfriend was
something that Remmy didn't need right now, but maybe some how, some way, he
could help her...


5.
After the other Sliders had lost track of Rembrandt, they decided to see if
they could find a place to stay. They found the Dominion Hotel. It looked much
cruder than it had on a few parallel earths, but it would do. Quinn checked them
in and they went to the room. Gomez Calhoun, the usual manager, lit the candles
in the Sliders room, wished a happy stay, and then went back to the front desk.
Quinn half-walked, half-ran to the window anxiously. He was frustrated with
Rembrandt. Meanwhile, Arturo came up with a plan of action. "I think that I am
going to find a library and discover what has happened in this world's past.
Miss Wells, I think that you should stay here at the hotel in case Rembrandt
comes back. Mr. Mallory, why don't you look around the place and see what you
can find out from the locals."
"Ok, Professor." Wade sat down on the bed and stared out the window as Quinn
followed Arturo out the door.
"She seems very disturbed Mr. Mallory."
"She cares for him a lot. I can tell. They're like brother and sister." Quinn
and Arturo went up to the front desk.
"Excuse me my good man, where may I find the local library?"
Gomez turned around. "Just down the street sir."
"Thank you."
The two Sliders exited the building and then parted. Quinn headed back to the
house and Arturo followed the manager's directions to the library. When Quinn
arrived at the house, he knocked on the door and was greeted by an old "friend"
of his. Michael Hurley stared at Quinn, wondering what he was doing here.
"Ah...hello..." He trailed off. "...Why are you here?"
"I just have a question for you Mr. Hurley. Have you seen a slave of mine
around?"
Now Hurley seemed confused. "Ah...no..."
"Well, he is about '5'10, medium build, dark-skinned, and has a mustache. If you
see him, please bring him to the Dominion Hotel, where I am staying."
Hurley sort of shook his head and then closed the door. Not until later, would
Quinn find out what he had just gotten himself into.


6.
Rembrandt and Trina came out of the basement area after ten minutes and began
looking around for the other Sliders. Remmy didn't want them to try and stop him
from helping the slaves. He was sick of them telling him what to do. They
couldn't find any of the three, so Trina began showing Remmy around.
"This is my quarters. I sleeps in that bed over there and I even got my own
desk."
"It's nice." Remmy responded.
"It's nice for us. Massa's house is a damn mansion. But, I'm lucky that I even
got a bed. Some of them sleep outside, or on the floor."
Rembrandt couldn't believe what she was saying. This was all despicable. He just
was so confused about how someone could do this, just because of other people’s
race. All of sudden there was a shout. "Trina! Trina, get your ass up here!"
"Oh no! Just stay here Remmy. He's really angry again. I'll be back in a few
minutes." With that, Trina ran out the door and up the hill to the big house.

Arturo came back into the room to find Wade still watching out the window and
Quinn sitting in a chair in the corner. "Well Mr. Mallory, what did you find
out?"
"Nothing. I told the owner of the house that I was missing a slave, and then
gave a description of Remmy. He had this crazed look in his eyes the time, like
he had seen a ghost or something."
Arturo was disappointed. He had hoped that Quinn might find Rembrandt and bring
him back, but that had not happened.
"Anyway, you won't believe what I found out. During the Civil War, the
Confederates launched a surprise attack on the Union soldiers and eradicated
almost all of them. During that time, a secret agent assassinated President
Lincoln, thus turning all of the United States into a country in which slavery
was demanded. Also, when Ben Franklin was testing how a kite attracts lightning,
he was electrocuted and died when the kite was struck."
"So that's why there's no electricity!" Quinn finished Arturo's thought for him.
"Indeed, my boy."
Wade stood up. "What is wrong with you two? Remmy is missing, and all you care
about is why there is no electricity on this world! You make me sick." Wade ran
out the door and disappeared before Quinn could catch up.


7.
Rembrandt crept stealthily up the hill to see what the slave owner was mad
about. He had heard Trina scream, and was concerned for her safety. When he
reached the top of the hill he saw the man walk out of the house with a whip in
his hands. He followed Hurley to the back of the house, where he saw Trina with
her back turned to him. He pulled up the whip and snapped it down onto her back.
A scream of torture erupted from Trina's lips. Rembrandt couldn't watch anymore.
He ran over to the man and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"You bastard!" He shouted.
"Rembrandt! No! What did you do that for? I disobeyed him. That was my
punishment!"
"No punishment is worth getting beaten for! What is wrong with you? The man just
whipped you!" Remmy didn't believe what Trina had just said. It just wasn't
right. "C'mon, we better get out of here."
Remmy took Trina by the arm and began running towards where he thought his
friends would be, the Dominion. He found it and raced through the front doors.
The manager looked shocked.
"What the hell are you doing in here!" He began to reach for something under the
desk. Rembrandt thought quickly, and then came up with an idea. "Our master is
here. His name would be Mallory. Can ya check please?"
Now it seemed to make a little more sense to Gomez. "Hold on a second. You just
wait right there and don't you move!" He grabbed a key and went to the room in
which the Sliders were staying. He called Quinn and then brought him out to the
front to see the others. "Are these your slaves, sir?"
Quinn made an angry face. He needed to make this look good. "There you are! How
dare you ever run off on me! Next time, I'll kill ya!" Quinn then slapped Remmy
on the head, for show. The three went back to the room, where they found Arturo
waiting at the door to see what the commotion was about. "Thank God you've
returned Mr. Brown! You can introduce me later, Ms. Wells just ran off, and I
think I should go search for her. I'll see you in a little while." With that,
Arturo left the room.


8.
The Professor had just entered what looked like the downtown area of this city.
He had been looking for Wade for about twenty minutes and began to grow tired.
Arturo sat down on a park bench and began thinking about what is life might have
been like if he had never slid. He was thinking about that a lot lately. He
didn't blame Quinn for dragging them into this. They all decided to go sliding
with him, except for Rembrandt, and were now paying the price for exploring the
unknown. Just as Arturo sat back to rest he heard the high-pitched voice of one
Wade Wells calling to him. "Professor?!" She seemed a little shocked.
"There you are!" He stood up and walked over to Wade.
"Why are you here?"
"I came looking for you, Ms. Wells. We don't know what kind of people live here,
you shouldn't just wander off like that."
"I don't need to be looked after, I can handle myself." Wade seemed a little
more hostile than usual. It was probably because of the stress that this world
has brought her.
"Ms.Wells, I suggest that we go back to the hotel. Rembrandt is waiting..."
Wade's face got lighter and she looked much happier. "Remmy's back!? Let's go!"
The two started back towards the hotel. When they got in sight of it, neither
one could believe their eyes. Fifteen, maybe twenty, men were gathered around
the hotel holding torches. They were shouting something that was inaudible from
where the two Sliders stood. Within seconds, they could see about five more men
exiting the hotel shoving Quinn, Rembrandt, and Trina out into the crowd. It was
about now that Arturo mumbled, "My God..."
"We have to get down there! We have to help them!" Wade began running, but
Arturo grabbed her before she could get away.
"Ms. Wells, if you go down there, chances are that they will also capture you. We
can't go doing anything foolish. We will wait until they disperse, and then
think of a plan."


9.
Three figures were thrown into a cell. The inside was not very inviting, it was
dark and cold. There was a bed in one corner and a barred window about five feet
off of the ground. Rembrandt Brown walked over to the window and stared out at
the darkening night sky. What now? What else could go wrong? He thought. Quinn
Mallory pounded on the bars and began shouting at the guard that was standing
outside of the cell. "What did we do wrong! Why the hell are we in jail?!" Quinn
was furious. The guard shot a confused glance over at them. "What's with you
boy? You know why you're in here. Stop pretendin' to be innocent." Quinn looked
back at the man, "That's just it, we don't know why we are in here." Remmy
finally walked over to the front of the cage. "Listen man, we've been kinda out
of it for a few days, could you just help to refresh our memories a little bit?"
Now the guard looked really confused. He just gave them a dirty look for a few
moments and then answered them. "Yeah, ok, you're in here cause a' him," He
pointed at Quinn "He's a Slaves Rights Activist. You should of known that when
he busted you out of your master's property. What are you people? Idiots?" As
the guard finished his sentence Trina sat down on the bed and began silently
sobbing. She knew that anyone who ran away from their master would be killed.
She had seen countless people whipped and beaten until death for this.
By now, the guard had left and Quinn was already searching for a way out of the
cell. Rembrandt walked over to the bed and sat down next to the now crying
Trina. He tried to think of something that would comfort her, but only came up
with the most expected words. "Everything's gonna be alright, don't worry." She
just stared at him for a few seconds with a disbelieving look in her eye and
then she lay down on the bed to go to sleep. "Sleep well..." Remmy got up and
walked over to Quinn. "What do we do now Q-Ball?" Quinn was deep in thought and
didn't really hear Remmy so it took him a few seconds to answer. Quinn turned to
Remmy and looked him straight in the eyes and said, "I don't know. Let's just
pray on Wade and the Professor right now."


10.
Professor Maximillian Arturo and Wade Kathleen Wells waited until they could
see that everyone had went in for the evening and then made their move. Wade
sneaked quietly along the sidewalk with Arturo right behind her. Suddenly, a
light flickered on in the distance and the two immediately hid behind a tree. As
soon as it switched off, they crept up the short dirt road toward the prison. As
they got closer to the main entrance, the pair stood up straight and walked
normally. They banged on the door for maybe a total of twenty seconds before a
guard opened it and asked them who they were. "We are the from the government.
We have heard that you are holding Quinn Mallory in this jail. We have specific
orders to escort him off the premises to be held in a federal prison." Arturo
had come up with that one just a few minutes before. The man eyed them
suspiciously for a few minutes and then let them in.
It wasn't really a prison. More of a small house converted into a jail with
eight cells in the basement. "Well, here they are." The guard walked down the
stairs and pointed in Quinn and Remmy's direction. Quinn sprang up and almost
shouted out something, but was stopped when he saw Wade behind Arturo signaling
for him to be quiet. "Thank you, may I have the key?" Arturo asked the man.
"Well, as soon as I see some identification." Now he waited to see how they
would react. The man moved his hand closer to his pistol, just in case. "Forget
this!" Wade moved to the man and gave him a swift knee to the groin and jab to
the stomach. She grabbed his gun and the keys before he could get to them. "Damn
woman!" Remmy jumped up from his bed and ran to the door. Wade inserted the key
into the slot and unlocked the cell. "I've never seen you do something like that
before!" Quinn was amazed. "Well, a few years of gymnastics and a year of karate
do a little good."
The group left the jail house and quickly ran back to the slave quarters where
Trina lived. They had snuck in with ease. Trina gathered up all of the slaves
that were in the quarters and two from the house. "This is why I didn't want to
be in jail tonight!" Trina gave a sharp look at Remmy. "What are you talkin
about?" Rembrandt was a little confused now. Trina pointed to the North. "A
friend of Cliff's," She pointed to a man in the corner, "has a locomotive. He's
gathering all of the slaves from our town and getting us to Canada!" Trina was
greatly excited now. "Sounds like a plan to me."


11.
The twenty or so people crept, one by one, off of the land. They walked for
maybe a mile until they came to a deserted shack in the middle of a large
prairie that was on the side of the train tracks. Cliff went into the shack and
pressed a few buttons so that the train could come down the right track. "It's
all set!" Cliff yelled as he ran to await the train. "Woohoo!" The rest of the
slaves cried as they followed him. "Indeed an extremely excited crowd of
people." Arturo said to the rest of his companions. "Why wouldn't they be,
they're gaining freedom. I can't imagine living a life like theirs." Wade added
her thoughts to the beginning conversation.
Trina walked over to Remmy with an excited yet depressed look in her eyes.
"Can't you come with me? We could live together in Canada!" Trina had now fallen
madly in love with the Cryin' Man. "I'm sorry, Trina, as much as I would want
to, I have to go back to my family. I can't give up on them." Remmy was a little
disappointed, he was in love too. "I understand." With that, Trina gave Remmy a
very passionate kiss and then walked off towards the crowd. "It's alright Remmy,
you made the right choice." Quinn tried to comfort him, but his pick of words
wasn't the greatest. "Yeah, I know." Remmy just kept staring after Trina and
then finally followed the rest of his friends as they wandered towards the
train.
Suddenly, the sound of a whistle grew louder and louder as the train approached
the stop. It pulled up at the same time as the stagecoach. A man jumped from a
stagecoach and fired a single shot from a rifle into the air. "Stop right now!"
Michael Hurley's gun went off with a powerful bang and everyone turned around.
"Just where the hell do you all think you're going?" He was pissed. How dare
they run away from him! Hurley pointed the gun at Quinn. "I knew you were
trouble. You'll never ever save any slave again you son of a bitch!" Quinn heard
the shot being fired, but he didn't feel anything. A second after the gun went
off, Hurley dropped dead in front of all of them. Quinn turned around and saw a
man standing on the train holding a smoking pistol. It was him! Quinn stared at
himself. The man jumped down from the train and walked over to Quinn. "My God!"
Quinn's Alternate was in shock, almost. He couldn't believe it, but he didn't
have time for this. "Everybody on board!" He ran back to the train and opened a
large sliding door. All of the slaves piled in.
"Guys.." Wade tried to get their attention. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Wade opened the
vortex. That got them to turn around. Arturo jumped into the shimmering circle
first. Followed by the others. As soon as Alternate Quinn turned around, all he
saw was Quinn jumping into the vortex and then it closing. Trina stared at it
until it disappeared, "Goodbye..."