Original subtitles

Who are those guys?

We don't want to know.

How much longer?

Ninety seconds.

Why did you tell them you were a believer?

Because I am.

I guess they believe something else.

Come on.

Unit three, hold your position.

We are approaching now.

Whoa!

Kill the believers! Kill them all!

Now!

- Fire! - Go!

Oh!

Looks like the same place.

Mallory?

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds

where it's the same year and you're the same person,

but everything else is different?

And what if you can't find your way home?

Sliders.

Come on, Mallory.

Come on.

Hey. You took a pretty bad hit there.

I feel fine.

I can't move my legs.

I can't move my legs!

All right, well, don't panic.

It could only be temporary.

And what if it isn't?

I'm not going back to this. I'm not.

We'll get you a doctor.

Do we have enough time?

We've got 38 hours.

Maggie and I will go.

You stay right here until we get back.

Sorry.

We'll wait for you right here. We won't go anywhere!

I'm not going back to a wheelchair.

We found a doctor.

Dr. Krislov.

This better be good.

I don't like being dragged from my bed for a common drunk.

Ow!

Come on.

I know this looks a lot like the BIR-world,

but there's no Bureau of Internal Reconstruction here.

We're moving through a cluster of similar worlds,

all branching off the same set of choice points.

On the last one, the BIR-men were in power.

Here, the BIR was overthrown.

People are still trying to recover from the war.

Krislov here barely made it out with his life.

So I have to depend on the guy who wanted to kill us in the last world

to save my life in this one.

Let me see.

Where did you say you came from?

- South. - East.

Uh, sort of southeast, actually.

Mmm.

Well, I ask because I haven't seen a wound like this in a long time.

Those weapons were supposed to have been destroyed.

We were attacked by bandits on the road.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Here.

These ought to fit you.

Please, put this on.

Young man, I'm afraid I don't have good news.

Your spinal cord has been scorched.

But it'll heal, right?

Well, I...

I'll be able to walk again, right?

I'm sorry, I don't have the technology to help you.

But with physical therapy, you should be able to regain some of the movement.

If you don't have the technology, who does?

Please.

Don't do anything stupid.

Doctor, you don't understand. He...

Diana.

I understand all too well.

You don't think I've seen a wound like this before.

The war left thousands maimed with it,

like me.

Do you think that if there were a real chance for recovery

would still be hobbling around on a stick?

But at least you can get around.

This isn't your decision to make, it's mine!

Who are you to play God?

You came to me for help, not them.

Now that you've found out that I can't help you you'll go out this door,

up the street, and straight to the believers, hmm?

And they will promise your friend a blessing.

Oh, they promise everyone.

And you are so desperate, you'll take it.

Can they make me walk again?

Yes.

That's all I wanted to hear. Let's go.

At a terrible cost!

Wait a minute.

What cost?

Young man,

do you know who you are?

Yeah.

If you go up there, do you know who'll you be?

- I'll be me. - No. You won't.

Well, that's all right, too.

Being me isn't that much fun anymore.

Do what you will.

Get him out of here.

I can't help a man who won't listen.

He just wants his legs back.

Oh, so you're going to help your friend be stupid, are you?

Huh? Well, I have no patience for stupidity.

I'm guessing you mean well, Doctor.

But he's our friend.

We're gonna do whatever we can to help.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Looks like the '60s.

My mother showed me pictures.

And these people are supposed to fix my legs?

Hello. Uh, is this the place...

- Welcome... - To our colony.

You've been injured.

But your legs are fine.

It's my spinal cord.

It's been scorched.

And you're here to ask for the blessing.

I don't know about that.

I am.

If it means healing.

I think we should take it slow here.

We? Are you in a wheelchair, too?

You don't know what it's like to be frustrated all the time

because everything requires ten times the amount of effort as it should.

Can you help me walk again?

We'll teach you to fly.

- All of you. - If you want.

I'm not sure about this.

One thing I learned in The Haight.

Beware of flower children bearing gifts.

This won't hurt, will it?

Does it hurt the caterpillar to become a butterfly?

Transformation always hurts.

But you'll be laughing too hard to notice.

Please.

You are welcome to join us.

Uh, no, thanks. Not this time.

The invitation is always open.

Diana!

I just want to take some of this. Analyze it.

It's all right. We don't mind.

We have no secrets here.

Transformation is free.

I offer you water.

May you never thirst.

Drink.

Wait.

Why?

Doesn't all this seem a little weird to you?

Everything seems weird to me since I started sliding with you.

Diana has a sample of the stuff.

We'll take it back to Krislov let him check it out.

Do these people seem dangerous to you?

That's not the point.

You already know what he thinks about this.

Look, I'll analyze it myself. But Krislov has the equipment.

Once again, I'm waiting for other people

to make decisions about my life.

You won't do anything till we get back, right?

Right?

All right.

You guys go on ahead I'll stay here with him.

You didn't drink any of this, did you?

Here.

You see this?

Billions of biological nanotech engines.

They can reproduce themselves like blood cells.

And yes, they can rebuild his spinal cord,

cell by cell.

Yeah, but you said there was a cost.

How do you think they get their instructions, hmm?

They link up and combine processing power.

Like a network.

The network programs the individual machines.

They communicate by tiny pulses of light

and that's why they glow.

Billions of them?

That's a lot of processing power.

Oh!

Oh, what?

The network, it's not limited to one single person, is it?

It broadcasts through the skin from one person to another, right?

And above a certain threshold, it becomes self-aware.

Self-aware?

The glow is one big mind.

It lives in all of them at once.

It uses their bodies, and eventually their brains.

That's why they all talk like one person.

They aren't individuals any longer.

Merely cells in the larger community.

So if Mallory drinks any of this stuff, then he becomes one of them.

That's the cost.

I'm sorry I was so eager to try this.

You and Remmy were right.

No harm in Diana making sure this stuff won't hurt me.

I have to learn to trust you more.

I'm glad you see it that way.

It's just...

You don't know what it's like to be dead in half your body.

Not to be able to walk or run.

You're right.

But in a way, I do know.

My husband was in a wheelchair the last year of his life.

I lived every day with his pain.

His loss.

I'm sorry.

I wonder what's keeping Remmy and Diana.

I'll go check.

Mallory!

Look, is there any way to cure this?

It was supposed to be a medical breakthrough.

An end to human suffering.

Yes, of course there's an off switch.

A shutdown code you beam into the network

with a modulated light operating at certain key frequencies.

It's called Dead Man's Light.

Do you know of anyone that...

Look at me.

If I did know someone, I would have healed myself along time ago.

The lights of the BIR-men.

They worked like that, didn't they?

They were destroyed.

Forget about it.

Tell me something.

When you were with the believers, did you meet a girl named Jill?

Was she all right?

Uh...

They didn't mention any names.

But everyone that was there seemed happy.

Jill is my daughter.

She's one of them.

If I knew how to make that light, I could have her back.

Don't let your friend do this.

I couldn't stop him.

- What? - He didn't...

So, uh, how are you feeling?

The process isn't very painful.

Mostly you have dreams.

Nice dreams.

I feel fine.

My coordination is a little shaky.

But in a little while, the recovery should be complete.

This is such a blessing. I feel...

Transformed in the most spiritual sense of the word.

It's like being able to see for a thousand years in all directions.

I've been such a jerk.

So angry at everyone and everything.

And you two have been so wonderful to me.

Can you forgive me?

You don't have to apologize.

It's, uh, just the way you get, when you get the way you get.

But it hurt you. I was wrong.

So how are you feeling now?

Transformation is a feeling of incredible joy and ecstasy.

He asked Mallory.

What do you feel?

Joy and ecstasy.

Mallory!

I feel blurry. Like I'm bigger than before.

Like I'm living in a lot of different places at once,

and this body is only a momentary focus.

You should feel this, Remmy.

It's so spiritual.

Come, drink the water of life with me.

Oh, yes, drink with us, all of you.

It's a whole other way to be.

Oh, do join us.

Please, join us.

I offer you life.

We need to talk.

No, no, no. We need to talk.

I'll wait for you in the tent.

How much time do we have?

Just a few minutes.

If I didn't know any better, I'd actually envy him.

Health, happiness.

A true spiritual connection to others.

A real sense of community.

Peace. Real peace.

We gotta get him the hell out of there.

Right.

Mallory.

Can we talk to you alone?

What were you doing?

Communing with God.

Rembrandt, the connection is eternal and unbreakable.

I felt the hand of God right here.

You don't know what that feels like.

Yes, I do, friend.

But I don't need this...

this stuff to do it.

This glow, it's not real, Mallory. Can't you see that?

Man, all you've got here is a slow, happy death.

You want comfort?

A grave is comfortable, and nobody ever climbs out of one.

Mallory, life, real life,

is about being uncomfortable.

Remmy, here, in this place,

we've linked a myriad of separate souls together into one greater being

thereby to obtain a far greater and clearer communication with God

than any one individual among us can achieve alone.

Is that what you feel?

Is that what you believe?

I know it.

It's time for the slide. We have to get going.

If I slide, I'll break the linkage.

I don't want to do that.

Stay. Join me.

Let me show you the joy.

Mallory, we can't.

Mallory, please come.

You go on without me.

See us off?

I sense you are going to a world where you can rest and take your ease.

But I'd rather you stay.

Won't you reconsider?

You know we can't stay.

It's your choice.

But I wish you could know what you're giving up.

And I wish you could know how much I love you all.

Mallory, we've told you before, but it bears repeating...

We're not going without you.

No!

Ah, this place is so pretty, and it smells so good.

A very restful place.

Thank you. We like to keep things pleasant.

Pleasant? This place is paradise.

What about the BIR-men?

Oh, those silly people and their miracle cures, that didn't work.

Oh, hush, Jill. That was a long time ago.

And they had some good ideas, but no one listened.

Thank you.

So nothing happened.

Will your friend be all right?

Yeah, he just is a little tired. He needs some rest.

Well, if you need anything else,

just jingle this little bell.

Oh, he is nothing like his duplicate.

I think I liked him better with the scars.

Well, this one didn't have to live through a war.

On this world, the glow was never invented,

so the BIR never happened either.

Poor Jill. She wasn't so lucky on this world, huh?

Oh, but she's got a good spirit.

Well, what we are is very much determined by what we're challenged by.

It's just that sometimes it's nice not to be challenged.

Mmm.

I smell coffee.

Uh, how you doing, Mallory?

You really want to know?

I feel like I've been amputated.

I suppose you want me to feel grateful.

I don't.

All right.

Go ahead, say it.

You have no idea.

Words can't contain it.

What's possible in the universe is so profound,

so extraordinary.

Most people never even get a chance to know this.

Well, don't think I didn't want to join you. I did.

You should have.

I was learning to look out through the eyes of everyone in the group.

I was going to achieve a congruence between the little self and the big self.

But we had to go.

You know, we're all just a bunch of whirling fragments

pretending to be a whole person.

I was getting unified.

There were pieces of your Quinn Mallory and parts of me

still unnamed all starting to come together, blending into a whole person.

I was getting to know who that person really was.

We had to do what we did, Mallory.

No, you didn't.

And I feel betrayed.

I'm not gonna apologize.

Me neither.

Somebody had to look out for us. You certainly weren't.

Maybe we shouldn't slide anymore.

What?

If that's what you want.

Rembrandt.

We have to trust each other.

If we don't, we shouldn't be together.

Don't you agree?

It's your call, Mallory.

I need to dry off.

I don't know what you two are talking about,

but we have got to stay together.

Some of us do.

We're here by choice. We go the same way.

Here. I offer you water.

May you never thirst.

You know, you're right, Remmy.

We have to trust each other.

I shouldn't be angry with you.

I should be grateful for your friendship.

And we have to find a way to keep on, don't we?

You're still infected.

Not infected. Blessed.

It's a gift. Don't you understand?

This is... This is immortality for everyone.

It's world peace.

The cure for cancer.

It's a battery that never runs down.

If it's not a free choice, it's not a blessing, it's a curse.

Did you give me a choice?

Look, it was for your own good.

And so is this.

Somebody has to think about us.

You're not.

- Mallory... - Wait...

Let me talk to him.

He still has those things in his blood.

Opens a vein, drips a little blood into the water,

a little sugar for food,

the nano-bugs start to multiply.

And his cut heals like magic. How convenient.

Remmy, he doesn't need us anymore.

If he can infect us, he can infect anyone.

My God, what have we turned on this world?

Immortality and peace.

And God.

It would be so easy to join him, wouldn't it?

Don't even go there, Maggie. It's a mistake.

I know.

We have stop him.

Fine. All we need is Dead Man's Light.

The shut-off code that the other Krislov told us about.

The BIR-men, they knew.

Krislov told us about it.

The one that was scarred.

Do you think this Krislov would know anything?

We're gonna have to find out.

Hi.

Hello.

I'm glad to see you're feeling better.

Where are your friends?

They're back at the hotel.

I was just taking a walk.

I'm thinking of staying here.

Really?

Well, there are a lot of nice people here.

And I have a gift I can share.

What is it?

Would you believe me if I told you it was a little miracle?

I did believe in the BIR for a long time,

because we all worked so hard.

It could have been the greatest medical advance ever.

All I wanted to do was fix my daughter's twisted spine,

but we couldn't get the nanotech working.

So, after a while, people just faded away.

Let me see. What have you got?

What is it?

Look at it under the scope.

Oh, well.

Is this for real?

Does it work?

Too well.

Believe me, over the years

the doctors have tried everything.

We heard about some alternative medicine in Mexico,

but my father couldn't afford that.

This contains power no doctor has.

And it's free.

If I drink this, what will happen?

You'll laugh.

I'm already laughing.

You'll know why it's all so funny.

Would you like to walk upright like everyone else?

You can't do that.

No one can do that.

I dare you to trust me.

We designed a specific command sequence

that had to be repeated three times in a row,

with specific modulation of light in two key frequencies.

Now, let me see here.

Why would you want to shut it off?

Does it hurt anybody?

Well, when we first encountered this...

Well, we were told about this kind of light.

This, uh, Dead Man's Light.

Well, here's a design for one.

Jill! No!

No. No.

Leave us alone, Diana.

You, Remmy and Maggie are sliding out tonight.

I'm staying here.

Do you remember the BIR-world?

Do you remember the tanks and the secret police?

That will happen here if you go on with this.

I don't need you to tell me how to live my life anymore.

If you won't share this blessing

then leave the rest of us alone.

It will heal you.

This won't work, you know.

This had better work.

Oh, it will.

It better, or we'll be wearing happy smiley faces forever.

Hey, it killed the stuff in the glass.

Doctor, are you sure this light's strong enough?

Don't worry.

The shutdown signal is contagious through the whole system.

Even a partial exposure will cure.

Hello. Would you like to take a free personality test?

Jill? Jill!

It works.

Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry I ever made fun of your old research.

Look at me!

It's a miracle!

Oh, darling. Oh.

What are you testing for?

It's about how open you are to spirituality in your daily lives.

Wouldn't you like to transform your being?

Have some water.

Cheers.

Ah! Thank you.

What was that?

You mean this?

What did you just do?

- It works. - What works?

Now do Jill.

No, please, no! She's so happy!

Jill has fallen out of the glow!

And George.

What are you doing?

We're our worst nightmare. We're BIR-men.

I should never have built this terrible light.

You did this?

Daddy, how could you?

But, honey, you can still walk.

But you've taken away the blessing.

I hate you.

We have to tell Mallory.

He knows.

I offer you water.

May you never thirst.

- Welcome! - Welcome!

- Welcome! - Welcome!

This is very clever, Remmy. Very good.

But are you really helping anyone this way?

You saw what happened to these people when you turned this light on them.

They were separated from their linkage to God.

They died spiritually.

That's why this is called the Dead Man's Light.

It kills people.

No matter. We'll renew them.

The blessing is infinite.

What about us?

Yeah, are you going to force us to drink?

No.

I won't force you to drink.

The blessing is freely given.

Like this morning?

What I did was wrong.

I'm sorry.

But you'll see. When you are linked with others,

your freedom is expanded.

But you can't know that, can you?

Join me, or go on without me.

There is a third option, Mallory.

An unacceptable one.

This is your chance to meet God face to face.

No, it isn't.

You're arguing against your own transformation.

I'm arguing for my own transformation.

What I'm arguing against is that.

Mallory, transformation comes from the heart, not some...

not some glass pitcher.

This is not the answer.

It's a crutch.

You wanted your legs back, didn't you?

You said you'd do anything to walk again.

You said you'd even take this risk.

And I was right to do it.

Yes, you were.

And you know what? I would have done exactly the same thing.

But you also said something else.

You said that you wanted to walk without help.

So who's really walking, Mallory? Hmm?

You? The glow?

Who's really talking?

You.

You don't understand.

The glow? Maybe we don't.

But I do understand you.

And if you are still in there,

you know what we're saying is the truth.

Step out of the glow, Mallory, and see how you feel about it then.

And if you still feel like we're wrong,

and if you think the glow is a better place to live,

then by all means, drink it again.

And I'll drink it with you.

And you?

- Don't do it! - No! Mallory, no!

Please, please. Be calm.

I leave you only for a little while.

I make this sacrifice willingly.

To prove that there is nothing to fear.

Transformation is always available to all of us.

What one feels, they all feel.

How you feeling?

Empty.

You don't know what I just gave up.

I can imagine.

No, you can't.

Are you going to drink the water again, Mallory?

I don't know.

When I was transformed, I was everybody.

I was Mallory, and I was Quinn,

and I was everybody else.

Now I can't feel anybody.

I had a... a strength inside of me.

Is that gone, too?

No.

I can still feel it.

Just not as clear.

That's normal, Mallory. Can't you see that?

We all feel that.

None of us really knows who we are

except by who we're connected with.

Who we care about is who we are.

Who do you care about, Mallory?

You're telling me I have to choose?

That's what life is, too.

It's about choices and possibilities.

The choices are never easy.

Otherwise, we wouldn't know how powerful we are.

This is a choice.

And so is this.

The water of life gives us the knowledge of our blessing.

And the light gives us responsibility.

Once you've been given the knowledge of the blessing

and the blessing of the knowledge,

it can never be taken away from you.

Mallory, you can't leave us.

- The real question is this... - No, please, no.

- Stay, Mallory. - What do you do with it?

I'm not going to stand up here and tell you which choice to make.

That's what other people do when they don't trust your ability

to be responsible for yourselves.

No, no, please.

No. I'm not a savior.

I'm not.

I'm just an ordinary guy

who just learned that blessings aren't found in what you're given.

They're found in what you create for the people around you.

What's important is making a difference.

The real transformation comes from choosing it.

What are we going to do now?

We choose as individuals.

Quinn is gone, for good.

I know.

I'm beginning to like Mallory.

You believe that?

Yeah.

I feel it.

I don't.

And I won't.

I, uh... I just didn't want to lose you.

Thank you.

So, who are you now?

I'm still finding out.

But isn't that true for all of us?