You are a flight attendant. It is Christmas Eve, and there is chaos all around. The winter storm is almost nation-wide, and the delays have been maddening. You feel sorry for the ticket agents dealing with angry passengers. For most of the day, you have been dealing with passengers who are generally happy; between the time that they have made it on the flight and are going home, and the time they find out their luggage has been lost.
You are well rested. Despite full hotels the company had managed to secure rooms for you and your fellow crewmembers, but you heard other crews were not so fortunate. This 5-hour cross-country flight will bring all the crewmembers home. You promised your 6 and 7 year old kids that Santa would come through, that you would be home for Christmas… but you should have been home 3 days ago. Repeated cancelled flights and last minute scheduling changes has led to this unfortunate situation.
You are the in-charge flight attendant, there are six others on board. They are mostly new-hires, not senior enough to take these days off. Then again, you couldn’t get these days off either. You have been together for the past five days. Today in particular has been very long, this will be your third flight. Your duty time is about to run out. You already received an extension, but that too is running out.
You have been on this plane trying to depart for the past 4 hours now. The plane had been deiced, but weather came in. The pilots waited for the weather to clear, but needed to be deiced again. Then sitting in line to depart for so long burning gas, the plane needed to be refueled. Then deiced again. Once again you are in line to depart.
You look at your watch. That’s it. If you took off right now and the flight time was all timely, you would arrive 1 minute over your duty time. You would be knowingly violating company policy. You may also be violating federal air regulations as well, but you don’t know for sure.
You look up at a fellow flight attendant. She too is looking at her watch. She looks up, forces a smile, then quickly looks away. Does she know? The two pilots will be making their first and only flight of the day, but you and your six fellow flight attendants are all in violation. Nobody says a word…
You are called to the flight deck. The captain looks at you and tells you “Alright. Forecast weather at the destination is very good, so lots of guys diverting there. Dispatch tells me average hold time to land is about 45 minutes. Good thing we refueled, we can hold for hours if we have to. Here everything is shutting down. Some really bad stuff is blowing in from the west within the hour. Good thing we’re eastbound. Couple guys were asked to return to the gate, but apparently there are no gates to return to. Some arrivals have been waiting 30 minutes for ramp crews to move empty planes out of the gates. They aren’t letting any departures go. Heard some guys who were waiting for pushback, are now deplaning. Glad that wasn’t us. Now I don’t know what is going on, the runways look fine. They probably ran out of deicing fluid, or maybe someone crashed their truck on the ramp. Nobody’s letting me know.”
You listen to the roar as another aircraft departs.
“We’ll probably be the last plane to leave today. Four hours behind schedule, but it will be good to be home. Just wanted to update you on the situation before take-off. The passengers aren’t getting anxious are they? Is the crew still ready to go?”
The first officer looks over to the Captain and tells him they’re next for take-off.
What do you do?
SLIDERS SEASON 6
On an earth, almost completly ruled by Kromaggs, a large Mantis ship flys slowly from south to north, the ship is so large that , for the two human’s that are crawling in the tall two foot high grass, they both remain still and silent, as they watch above them, the body of the dark black Mantis ship, with a trembling fear. Almost as if their very breath will set off the ship’s senses. Yet it continues on, towards the Kromagg prison buildings only a yard away. The dark of night, keeps the two escaped human’s hidden from view. The one man, Collin Mallory, gave a long sigh of relief, then tapped his finger on the shoulder of Wade Wells, a woman brave enough to chance this dareing escape. Both wearing black and red coveralls.
“This way.” Collin whispered. Slowly crawling through the tall night grass. Wade followed behind. Then, in a moment, they came to a ten foot drop, where a little stream of water flowed. Standing up now, and making there way to the stream, Collin grabbed Wade’s hand, helping her down. Then, in a run, they followed down the stream west, there shoes soaking in the water. Very fast, the stream got wider and wider. The forest of tall thick tree’s made them feel safe from being seen by air, along with the dark of night.
Soon the stream opened out to a large lake. And only a few feet away, on shore, a row boat lay silently, with a man,Aaron McFarlane, sitting beside it. Yet as he noticed Collin and Wade, he waved his hand to them and stood up. Collin and Wade waved in return and ran towards him.
As they approached,Aaron smiled and gave each of them a hug.
“C’mon.” Aaron spoke nervously,” Let’s get the boat into the water. The longer we stray here, the more chance we’ll be caught.”
“I agree.” Wade sighed.
Together , they pushed the row-boat onto the lake, then all three , Collin, Wade,and Aaron, got into it and , Aaron began to row them , slowly away west, staying along side the hanging forest tree’s. None of them dared speak for the whole trip, fear clutched there hearts tight.
**************************************…
Wade smiled, as she drank coffee while sitting at the kitchen table ,looking at the morning sun shining through the kitchen window. Collin , scratching his head, walked into the kitchen and sat down beside her. Both of them smiled.
“It sure feels good to be in regular clothes again.” Wade sighed.
Collin nodded his head, “Yeah. And to be away from the Kromagg prison. I tell you, I was begining to wish I was stuck among a million parrallel earth’s like I had been .”
“I still don’t get , how were you saved from that situation?” Wade asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Well, as I was passing through so many earth’s, the one s that were controlled by the Kromagg’s, picked up my quick entry and exit in there world’s.” Collin rubbed his eye’s,” They thought I was a spy, that was being sent to each of there world’s looking for there main base of operations .”
“But if you were only a few seconds on each world, because of being stuck amongst so many earths, what made them think you were a spy? To me, a spy would need to be at least a day on each world.” Wade asked.
Collin shrugged his shoulders,” I don’t know. They’re idiots. We both know that. But either way, they used there own technology to draw me to this world, and fix my Quantum signature back to normal so that I wouldn’t be stuck anymore among worlds.”
“I bet that was a hell of a shock, when you realized who your rescuer’s were.” Wade got up and placed her coffe cup into the sink.
“At first, I didn’t care that it was the Kromaggs, I was just happy to be stuck back normally to a world . Then I had learned it had only been a few months that I had been unstuck, as my Kromagg Captain told me what the date was. ” Collin brushed his hair with his hand, ” The torture they put me through to see if I really was a spy was Hell. At time s I wished I lied so they’d stop.”
“They would have killed you if you did that. Once they got the information out from you that they thought was true, you wouldn’t have been left alive. Your honesty saved your life,Collin.” Wade replied folding her arms.
“Well, what I went through was nothing compared to what they did to you , Wade.” Collin sighed. “I can’t even imagine what it was like to be in your shoes.”
“You know, when they had my brain hooked up to there computer, and Maggie and Rembrandt found me, I couldn’t believe what had happened to me.” Wade grew silent , then continued,”It was strange, as though, what ever I imagined, at that point, I was able to do. That’s how I managed to save them from that Kromagg world and slide them elsewhere. I managed to say goodbye to Remmey, and then the next thing that happened was really weird.”
Collin stood up and grabbed a cup of coffee, while listening intently .
“I know I left my body, I ‘died’. The rest becomes a hazy memory. All I know is, that I didn’t want to leave life yet. Someone else was with me , I don’t remember who, but someone. I was drawn to this earth, where a double of mine, had just left her body, after being beaten by the Kromagg guards that had caught her trying to escape there prison. Somehow I knew that it was alright for me to go in her body, since she was not returning to it. I remember floating into the body, then I was completly aware of the physical life again. But I was filled with pain, from the wounds of the beating. ” Wade sighed,” I was taken to a prison cell when the Kromagg s realized I was still alive. I think they were impressed that I wasn’t dead .”
“That’s how you became friends with the couple prison guards that brought in messeges from Aaron to us.” said Collin.
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. But that is what happened. I guess I was the only woman to survive a beating like that from them.” answered Wade. Then she looked up at Collin,” Talk about luck, us getting placed into the same cell.”
“Luck ? That prison is getting overfilled with all the earth’s they are conquering.” Collin replied. “I didn’t realize you knew Quinn,Remmy, and Maggie.”
“Neither did I know that you were Quinn’s brother, or the fact that he actually wasn’t from my world !” Wade smiled. “Talk about knowing someone and not knowing them eh.”
“I can’t believe Aaron was able to escape without any help.” Collin said , sitting back down at the table. ” When he was brought to our cell, I thought he was crazy, talking about knocking out a guard ,stealing his weapon and making a run for it.”
Wade nodded her head,” I’ll say. Even more amazing , was the day we all were brought outside for the daily slave labour of building a new prison building, and Aaron actually jumps for a guard , and does exactly what he said he’d do. Run off for the gate, killing every Kromagg that came his way. ”
“I’d have joined him if the guards near us weren’t pointing there guns at us and the rest of the camp.” Collin sighed.
“Me too.” Wade agreed.
“Talk about shocking, I thought he’d be killed for sure, that they had got him, untill we got word from your kromagg ‘friend’ that Aaron made a deal with him to help us escape.” Collin said.
“No kidding, good thing that Kromagg had a sweet tooth for cow-eye’s. Never thought a Kromagg guard would give in to food in exchange for a prisoner escape.” Wade laughed.
“Where is Aaron?” wondered Collin.
“Before I went to sleep, he said he was going to the basement to finish a few adjustments on his device.” Wade answered.
Collin looked at his watch,” Well, it’s nearly 3pm , and he isn’t up, if he really can slide us off of this earth, I really don’t want to wait long. Even if this is a hidden cabin far in the woods, it’s still not safe enough nor far enough from the Kromaggs for me.”
“I agree. I’ll go wake him.” Wade announced.
As she walked towards the stairs, she noticed the door to the basement open.
“Hey, Collin, I don’t think he’s sleeping.” Wade said.
Collin came and noticed the door open too. Both then walked down the stairs into the basement, to see Aaron asleep at his workbench.
“Aaron.” Wade spoke, as she touched his shoulder.”Wake up.”
Aaron’s eye’s slowly opened, as he looked at her and Collin. “ughh.. I’m sorry , What time is it?” he asked.
“Bout 3 o clock daytime.” Collin answered. “Sorry to wake you , but you did say you could slide us off of this Kromagg earth, and we’re kinda getting a little antsy.”
“I know, I know. ” Aaron answered,” I wanted to make sure my Timer was completly ready before today. My first Timer was taken away when I landed on this earth and the Kromaggs captured me.
So I didn’t have anything but my own memory to rely on to build this Timer.”
With that said, Aaron pulled out the Timer. It was the size of a remote and looked alot like the Timer Dr. Jenson had made on the world Maggie came from, or so thought Wade.
“Let’s go .” Collin said.
Aaron stood up and pressed some buttons on the Timer,” I’m setting this thing for one hour and also eraseing this world’s co-ordinates , this is one world I want to leave far behind.”
“So , we’ll be sliding randomly?” Wade asked.
“Yes, and the problem is, we won’t have any controll of how much time till the next window on each earth , the Timer might read ten minutes on one world, and four days on another.” Answered Aaron. “But , at least we will be away from this Kromagg infested world.”
“Agreed.” replied Wade and Collin.
“O.K.” Aaron announced,” Here we go. Cross your finger s that this works.”
Wade and Collin both did.
Aaron pushed the button, and in that moment, the Timer worked ! It opened a slideing porthole !
“YESS !” cried out Wade, as she threw her arms up and gave Aaron a big long hug.
“Alright people ! no time to waste , let’s go!” Collin said, as he ran into the vortex.
Wade smiled, and ran in next, then so too did Aaron.
**************************************…
Maggie looked at Diana with hope in her eye’s, as Diana set a few button’s on the controlls of the computer and looked over at Mallory, whom was sitting on a chair with a ray gun , built by Diana, pointed at him.
“O.k.” Diana said, as she sighed,” Just, be calm, This will work this time, I promise.”
“Why is it that everytime you say that, I’m stupid enough to sit here and believe you?” Mallory nervously replied. “O.k, think about other things instead of being hit in the chest by a super-large laser, um.. ah… there we go.. Maggie topless.” he said, as he held his eye’s closed and smiled.
Maggie nodded her head and smiled as she kept her eye’s on him.
Diana, placed her finger on a trigger and pushed it. The ray gun shot out a bright red laser light at Mallory, the room filled with red light , so much that Diana and Maggie had to sheild there eye’s , untill the ray gun turned off a second later and the light faded.
Maggie’ s eye’s opened , as tears began to fall down her cheek. Diana smiled. There stood Quinn , (the Quinn Maggie had originally began sliding with), he stood beside Mallory (who was looking at Quinn with surprise.)
Running to Quinn, Maggie threw her arms around him and gave him a long kiss on the lips.
Mallory smiled ,” Right, for him she gives a kiss, but for me she gives a dirty look every once in a while.”
Diana placed a hand on Mallory’s shoulder. A proud look on her face.
Quinn held Maggie in his arms, and looked at Diana and Mallory. “I don’t remember everything, but I’m guessing I owe you both a great bit of gratitude.” He said, shaking there hands.
“Strange.” Mallory answered,” Your my double? You don’t look anything like me.”
“Believe me, slide for five years straight and you will meet even women doubles of yourself.” Answered Quinn. “So where are we? where’s Collin and Remmy?” Asked Quinn , looking at Maggie.
“That’s going to take some time to explain.” Maggie answered.
**************************************…
The vortex opened, and out came Wade , Collin and Aaron, all landing roughly onto the sidewalk. As the vortex closes behind them.
Getting up, Wade asked Aaron,” ohhh, that feels familiar , pain in the back side, just like the good old days. How long are we here for?”
Aaron looked at his Timer,” Two days and change.” he answered.
“Umm. Guys. I don’t want to cause panic but I think we were seen coming out of the vortex.” Said Collin, looking at the large crowd of people that were stareing at them.
“Uh oh.” Wade replied.
Aaron placed the Timer in his pocket.” O.k” He announced to them, ” I know what you just saw , might seem strange but..”
“SLIDERS !!!” yelled out someone in the crowd, as they all began to chant “SLIDERS SLIDERS SLIDERS!!”
“Hunh?!?” said Wade.
**************************************…
Quinn ate a sandwiche as he used the remote controll to flip the channels on the t.v. to the local news channel.
Maggie sat beside him, her hands in his.
“…Elvis said that even though he wanted to come back for another concert, his manager discouraged it, saying to the press that Elvis’s voice hasn’t recovered yet. On other news..” continued the news channel .
“Amazing, on every world I’ve been to, the news always sucks.” said Maggie.
“….New Sliders have arrived to town.” the news channel announced. At this, Quinn and Maggie perked there ear’s up , and Mallory and Diana came into the room, from the kitchen.
The news continued,”…We all rememeber the first four that arrived a couple months ago , and also the show that had made record ratings based off of there experiences. Now , it seems , they aren’t alone. Three people arrived earlier today , we have footage taken by one of our reporters. ”
The t.v. shows Collin , Wade and Aaron with a microphone held by a woman reporter. “Tell us, how long will you be with us before you slide ?’ ;’only a couple days’(answered Collin); ‘will you be able to tell us some of your experiences? Do you know the other Sliders that are here?’ (Collin and Wade look at each other)”
Next, the t.v. shows the news channel main reporter back on,” That was all that was captured, the new Sliders wanted to have time to rest, so was escorted to a local Hotel,and promised to give an interview again before they left.”
Quinn stood up and stared at Maggie,” I can’t believe it ! Collin and Wade!”
Maggie sighed,” What if it’s not the one’s we know? And you remember what I told you what happened to Wade. Quinn, I doubt it’s them.”
“I don’t care. ” Quinn answered grabbing his jacket,” I’m going to see them. Anyone coming?”
“I’ll go.” Mallory answered.
“So will I .” replied Maggie.
“I guess I will too.” said Diana.
**************************************…
Opening the door to the hotel room, Quinn stepped in, with Maggie, Mallory,and Diana behind him. Quinn looked at Collin, Aaron and Wade. He walked up to Wade and looked into her eye’s. Both of them stared. Slowly , they gave each other a long hug. And Collin joined, wrapping his arms around them, then Maggie joined as well.
**************************************…
“I can’t believe we found each other .” Wade smiled, as the re-united friends drank a beer at the Hotel bar.
“I wish my mom was here. Can’t believe she died like dad did, hit by a car.” Quinn sighed.
“She’s here Quinn, you know she will always be with you.” Wade answered.
“Hope you guys can still walk after drinking so much.” Aaron announced,” Cause we slide in a few minutes here.”
“You guys sure you don’t want to come with us?” Quinn asked Mallory and Diana.
Diana answered,” I’m sure. I’ve had my fill of sliding for one lifetime.But all the luck to ya.”
Mallory smiled,” If it weren’t for how popular my character is on this world, I’d go along with you, Butt… I just couldn’t break the heart of the ladies on this earth. Besides, after finally getting you out of my head, knowing my luck, we’d slide to a world where another crazy scientist wants to put you back in there again. And I don’t need the headache. ”
Aaron passed the Timer to Quinn,” Here , you hold onto it. With your experience with sliding, you won’t drop it when we land.”
Quinn looked at the Timer, as the Timer reached zero, then pressing a button, the vortex opened. Quinn smiled large.
“Take care of yourselves.” Maggie hugged Diana and Mallory. Then ran into the vortex.
Aaron went next, Then Collin, and Wade.
Quinn looked over at Diana and Mallory,” Thank you both for bringing me back.”
With that said, Quinn ran into the vortex, as it closes behind him.
Okay so my lil “sister” stayed at my house with me and my brother and mom last Thursday. Our families have been friends for 14 years. Whenever she is at her mom’s house she has a midnight curfew. Whenever she stays at my house, her curfew is whatever mine is, that is how it has always been. She is almost 17 and I am almost 22 btw. Anyways Thursday, we decided to go see my older “brother” who lives about 25 minutes from my house. Anyways, time got away from us, and we were sitting in the lobby of the hotel my brother works at and she updated my myspace saying something about being in Linn with her and so on. Well her mom calls the next day, pissed off because we were in Linn at 4:30 in the morning, saying that she knows her curfew is midnight and that we should have told her and no one knew we were going down there. We explained to her mom that my mom knew where we were, we both had our cell phones, and we have never had to tell her mom what we were doing or where we were going as long as my mom knew and that she never had a curfew when she stayed with us. We told her that we didn’t mean to stay that late (which was the truth) that time just got away from us and we apologized. She apologized for over-reacting and said it was fine, she was just suprised because we always tell her when we are planning on going somewhere outside of town. We told her it was last minute and she said okay that was fine. Well I guess she had said something to a friend of hers about it before we talked to her. Afterwords she was telling her friend what we talked about and her friend now thinks that my “sister” shouldn’t be able to spend the night anymore and we shouldn’t be allowed to hang out w/out one of her other kids there and that she should be grounded for the next 3 weeks. Now “mom” is thinking it over! This is ridiculous! My “sister” and I are neither one irresponsible or untrustworthy. We have never gotten in trouble (other than grounded for attitude or something like that), we both work, we help take care of our neices and nephews from irresponsible siblings, and we take care of our houses and cars. We came to an agreement with her mom, that no matter what, anytime we plan on doing something outside of town, we will at least leave her a text message letting her know our plans. Now, because of her friends saying we were being irresponsible and lying and that we are untrustworthy, she is rethinking this and is talking about grounding us from each other for the first half of the summer. This man does not even know me and my “sister” let alone our personalities and history. So we made a deal, we put the question on here and we’re going to let you decide. Should my “sister” and I be grounded from each other for the first half of the summer, should she be grounded for 3 weeks, or should “mom” stick to the agreement we made? Mind you, technically we didn’t break any rules, we just stayed out later than she thought, and didn’t give a courtesy call.
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