This is the crossover fanfic in my series featuring Doctor Who (the Fifth Doctor – played by Peter Davison in the classic BBC tv series) – and the Sliders.

Story (C) 2001-2016 Mr SciRev.

For the Dr Who Timeline Related to this Fanfic, or to read what happened just before this fanfic, please see Who Sliders 2

General fanfic-timeline commentary is presented in blue

What you need to know:
“The Doctor is a Time Lord – a time-traveller from the alien world called Gallifrey who travels in space and time thanks to his TARDIS which looks like a police box, bigger inside than outside. When the Doctor is severely injured or even killed, he will regenerate into a new appearance and body. He is currently in his fifth incarnation (4th regeneration). His thirteenth will be the last.

The Sliders have developed a technique called Sliding which allows them to go to different dimensions or parallel universes, but will they ever find the way to their home universe?

The Doctor with his companions – currently an australian hostess named Tegan, Hindle ( a previously deranged soldier from a future earth colony ), young irritating genius Adric, alien orphan and technological expert Nyssa and the Sliders – is on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless and the powerless throughout the whole multiverse of multiple universes. The Doctor’s alteration to the Sliders’ timeline has resulted in multiple changes across various multiverse timelines in hypertime. Fixing these holes is an important task of the Doctor which has been sanctioned by an angel of God called the White Guardian.”

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You remember how the Doctor radically changed the history of the Sliders – indeed their timeline was well altered for the better. But since they were travellers who went to various parallel earths, those different universes which they had visited, now were all altered as a result of this. To fix these holes, left in the various timelines of the multiverse, the White Guardian has entrusted the Doctor with the task of making things right. This is the first one. What had happened on this particular parallel earth, before its timeline was altered by both the Doctor’s arrival, as well as Barclay’s Pathfinder beam.
For the reader’s benefit, what happened ON THIS DAY before the previous timeline was changed (or rather wiped out) is presented in italics. It is as if it never happened, now that the Doctor changed the timeline…

“Wow! That was a rough slide, don’t you think!” Remmy said to Colin.
Colin was Quinn’s brother. They had just slid back from another parallel world. Colin was born on the same parallel earth as Quinn was, but unlike Quinn who grew up on “Earth Prime” ie Earth-001, Colin was taken to a rural parallel Earth. He grew to love nature and appreciate its beauty. He grew on a farm. He could see the Creator reflected in his world’s nature. He was always ready to help his friends and to give his life for them. When Quinn found him he had eventually travelled with them, until he got ‘unstuck’ in the Time Continuum, due to a dangerous experiment conducted by a certain Dr Geiger. What a bad timeline this was, Colin thought, while he was ‘unstuck’. He would repeatedly find himself in different worlds for a few seconds, popping in and out of them. Never stopping. Until something happened once, he managed to stay in one of them. And on that world, he met Remmy and the Sliders. But they were not the same Sliders he knew. They were a parallel version, alternates of his friends, who had never met him. It had taken time, but they finally got to trust him.

“We have arrived at the Chandler Hotel of our world!” Alternate-Quinn said.
These Sliders were able to go back to their own world, unlike our own Sliders. They went back home often.
They were always trying to find Colin’s Sliders, but it was difficult. Their world was technologically very advanced, and their year was 1691! It was very unusual to Colin, but the others were used to this.
This time they were so sure that his Sliders had arrived on their own homeworld (Earth-001), but they could not trace them. Alternate-Quinn thought that the problem might be Time itself, perhaps they would have arrived here, in the future.
This was the correct guess in fact. Centuries later, Mallory, Remmy, Maggie and Diana would find the other Sliders’ Timer in an archeological dig. Diana was a Slider he had not met, and Mallory was the result of Dr Geiger’s dna combination experiment, which combined (our) Quinn and an alternate Quinn into a single person, who took the name Mallory afterwards.

Colin looked around the street close to the Chandler Hotel. Wistful, he hoped to see his friends. He saw an old parking meter and wondered where it would be when the other Sliders would get here. Probably buried underground, he thought. It would take an archaeological excavation to find it.
A war had started in this world’s middle east and quite soon it would arrive at the doorsteps of the Chandler Hotel. Abruptly, most of this world’s civilisation would come to an end. Sadly, Colin and the others would not live to tell their complete story. Their Timer would be found by Colin’s friends in the future.
This world’s Remmy was a hit singer who had accumulated many awards. Some of the locals who knew them were fans of Remmy. Lots of the awards and trophies were kept by some of them, in a special room. Some of the survivors of the war would keep their knowledge of it. Even though Remmy had died, some of them believed that this world’s Remmy had left their world by Sliding and would return one day. This legend came true, when the Remmy Colin knew arrived in this world, many centuries later.

Now, however this timeline (which was what we saw in the Sliders episode ‘Dust’) did not exist anymore. Things happened differently thanks to the Time Shift. Did Colin still end up here? Our Quinn and the others have not yet met Colin. If Colin were to end up here, would they even know him? The answer is no.

Let us go back to our new timeline. In the new timeline, the seas went berserk, due to two approaching planets.
The Planet Deva Loka in the future of Universe-777 was for sure located in another galaxy, but in the 21st century in Universe-2001, it was located in our solar system!
Deva Loka was synchronous in orbit with this Earth, and another planet called K was growing closer day by day. Planet K’s interaction was causing havok with the weather and the seas. The middle east war was about to go off, but the bad worldwide weather made everyone think twice before starting it. It was made more difficult.

“Doctor, how can we move a planet?” Nyssa asked.
“Perhaps we could convince world leaders of this parallel earth – Earth-2001 as I’m calling it – to get loads of nuclear weapons which they were going to use in a war, and get them to fire them at Planet K? You told us it was uninhabited after all.” Tegan wondered.
“Brilliant idea Tegan. But it would not work. Planet K’s mass is too big, and the resulting fragments would rain down on Earth and Deva Loka. We need something better.” the Doctor answered.
“On Deva Loka-777 there was a legend of a Null-Device. Have you heard of it, Hindle?”, the Doctor explained.
Hindle said he had heard of it once. He did not know if it were true or not, of course.
“On to the TARDIS then. We’re off to this universe’s Deva Loka-2001 next.” the Doctor said.
While the Doctor, Hindle, Tegan and Nyssa entered the TARDIS, the Sliders saw a wormhole open in thin air. “That’s a sliding wormhole!” Quinn exclaimed.
Who could it be? A Kromagg alien – one of those nasty ape-like beings from a parallel earth, bent on enslaving all other parallel earths? Another Slider, someone who had found a way to traverse the parallel dimensions?

“Brother!” Colin appeared from the wormhole and shouted towards Quinn.
“Who are you calling brother?” Quinn asked.

The Doctor convinced everyone to allow Colin to travel with them in the TARDIS. “This is likely to be a temporal paradox. We haven’t met this Colin yet.”
Colin said “I know all of you, Doctor, except that guy there”, pointing towards Hindle.

 

The Doctor replied “This should not have happened. Normally I am never recognised by someone I never met.”
“Why,” Wade asked. “Why is that? With all your time-travelling I thought you would meet people in plainly the wrong order.”
“It would be likely”, Hindle said.
“Blinovitch limitation would prevent that. Most of the time. But not all the time.” the Doctor clarified, but the others did not know this term.
Colin told Quinn that he was not from Earth Prime. Well actually both of them were from an advanced parallel earth which had fought the Kromaggs.
Both of them had been adopted. Quinn couldn’t believe this.
“He’s telling us the truth”, the Doctor said. “I can sense that.”
“Do you read minds, Doctor?” Professor Arturo asked.
“No but my Gallifreyan mind is very sensitive. Almost telepathic in some circumstances. But no, I’m not a telepath.”
“You had met me on the world where I lived, a farm world.” Colin explained.
“Don’t say anything more, or you risk changing your past.” the Doctor said. “If you’re with us when we meet you, there will be a big, big, explosion!”
“Really?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, really.” the Doctor replied. “We know that Hindle will have left us when we meet Colin.”Then, after a short pause, he said “We have arrived. Welcome to Deva Loka.”
“But, Doctor, what will we do with the future Colin who is with us right now?” Wade asked.
“We will have to put this Colin somewhere far from us, another world, another parallel earth, etc.” the Doctor replied. “Then we meet the other Colin, and he should end up meeting us, in his past.”
“This is giving me a headache!” Arturo complained.
“By the way, where is Maggie?” Colin asked. Everyone was wondering who this Maggie was. Only time would tell. The Doctor asked Colin to shut up or he would drop him off.
“Doctor, will the Mara be here too?” Tegan was worried.
“It’s unlikely to be the case, isn’t it Doctor?” Adric tried to say.
“I don’t know and it’s not something you see on the sensors.” the Doctor replied.

The whole team left the TARDIS and started searching. They were trying to find the legendary Dev Null Device of Deva Loka. It was rumoured to be located in the wildlands, where they had materialised.
“Some legends say the Dev Null Device does nothing at all, that it’s all a joke” the Doctor said.
“That had better not be the case”, Hindle said.
“Or that it could be a mini black hole, swallowing everything that comes into its grasp” the Doctor continued. “I’m hoping it’s an advanced technological weapon left behind by a long-dead civilisation.”
“Are those inhabitants, Doctor?” Professor Arturo asked.
“They certainly look like it.” Colin said.
“These people are Egyptians!” Wade said.
“They shouldn’t be!” Tegan exclaimed.
“This is a different Deva Loka, just like all the different Earths!” the Doctor explained patiently.
Once the ‘Egyptian’ natives got close, the Doctor waved at them and said: “We come in peace!”
“I am Aponolophis of the Gua! You are humans!” one of them shouted. He was wearing the headgear and clothes of the ancient Pharoahs.
“Oh yes. I am the Doctor and these are my friends. I don’t think you care much who they are, don’t you?” The Doctor had heard of the Gua, but they were different from this Egyptian-like character, so this was the same name but a different race.
“Silence! You have come here as invaders to our world. You are probably the reason why the Einade Planet has moved towards our world.” Aponolophis said.
“Einade Planet. Who is this bufoon?” Professor Arturo said.
“Kill this human insolent!” Aponolophis ordered his guards.
They pointed some kind of staff weapon at Arturo.
“Stop, stop, stop, put down your weapons” the Doctor said.
“Why should I care? Fire, guard!” Aponolophis asked, while the guard fired and instead hit a nearby tree. It was clear that the staff operated similar to a conventional laser.
“Because I am a Time Lord, a Gallifreyan. I possess advanced technical knowledge that you are not aware of. And your planet is currently in danger of being destroyed, as is Earth. It is obvious that your guards here were originally humans from Earth which you captured a long time ago and placed on Deva Loka. You made them your slaves and forced them to worship you as their gods. False worship of course, as you are no god!”
“You insult me, Doctor.” was the reply of Aponolophis. “But your advanced alien knowledge may have its application in my interest. I have some enemies which you could help me defeat.”
“You will let us live then? The others may be of help too.” the Doctor asked.

Aponolophis sensed something different in the Doctor. His muscles tensed. Then he replied “Agreed. For the moment. I know your secret, Doctor. You are an Ancient..”

They were taken to a nearby encampment.

“Ancient?” Arturo asked, looking towards the Doctor. What could this mean?
“He means I’m old, or rather that my race is very old.” the Doctor said, skirting the reply.
The Doctor studied carefully all the surroundings. Quietly, Professor Arturo told the Doctor that he would give his life if it were needed as a distraction for the rest to escape.
“I hope it will not come to that”, the Doctor replied. “This room is made of a malleable material the like of which I have not seen. It seems organic, actually. It actually grows! Let’s see if we can get out of here, using the sonic screwdriver.”
The Doctor operated his sonic screwdriver. “Thankfully I stopped to get a new one after my original one was destroyed at the time of the fire of London!”
The screwdiver had a spectacular effect. The room split in two as if it were torn asunder. It was not exactly the typical door, but it was an exit nevertheless. Perhaps it was the typical Gua door.
“Doctor, could that be the Dev Null device over there?” Adric asked, pointing to an apparatus on a nearby table.
“Indeed it looks like it is”, the Doctor said, examining it carefully. It is a sophisticated device, certainly. It is not a black hole generator. It might be a powerful sliding device generator, like your Timer, but I’m not certain. I think the Gua don’t even know what it is.”
“If it is a powerful enough sliding device we could use it to slide the whole Planet K out of this universe!” Professor Arturo said.
“What slides in must however slide out”, the Doctor pointed out. “You must see where it is going to slide out, in another parallel universe. We cannot put it in the same proximity; the effect would be disastrous. Imagine it sliding out close to a parallel earth.”
“Is there any facility to modify the default location of the other side of the wormhole?” Quinn asked.
“I am afraid that question will remain without an answer”
The voice was that of one of the servants of Aponolophis. The egyptian looking guard held up the staff and pointed it towards the device, ready to destroy it.
Quickly the Doctor took out an enlarging mirror (22nd century specification, nonetheless) from his pocket and put it in front of the device. The guard shot anyway, and the laser beam hit part of the roof material, which started leaking blood immediately, and parts of it, together with lots and lots of reddish blood fell down on the guard, trapping him for the moment. It also opened a breach in the outer wall of the organic building they were in, which meant a new way out.
“That’s our cue”, the Doctor said. “Let’s take the device and escape to the TARDIS. Quickly before they notice we’re gone.”
There were no guards outside at this time, which made it easier for them, obviously. Aponolophis was too proud to even think that his prisoners might escape. But once the guard would report what had happened, he would be sentenced to a sure death.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor surveyed the device closely. “Hmmmm.”
“Well Doctor, do you think it is a sliding device or not?” Arturo asked. “I think it is, but it’s not exactly how I’d imagine it to be.”
“Not exactly. It is a time displacement device. It can be used to make everyone go back in time.” the Doctor said.
“Everyone? With your typical time machine, only the users of the device would travel in time. How does it work?” Quinn asked, curious.
“Correct – all the space close to this planet would travel back in time, that includes Earth and Planet K, and it uses the wormhole generation technique and the Einstein-Rosenberg bridge to connect to fixed-point wormholes in another parallel universe. It seems to be drawing its power from a single planet in that universe. This is worrying.” the Doctor said.
“Worrying?” Wade asked.
“First – the tachyonic pulse we discovered earlier was not the sole cause of the Deva Loka time loop. Yes, whoever made this device must have been either a Time Lord like myself – well a renegade one in any case – or a similarly powerful civilisation. You see, the device was made to take the whole world and many other planets in this universe and another one, back in time, presumably to alter the established real timeline of these two universes.” the Doctor said.
“We must not allow this to happen. And a side-effect of this interaction may be just the time loop on our universe’s Deva Loka. That tachyonic beam, whoever sent it, has saved the timeline by restricting the effect of this massive time device to a time loop of around one day! Perhaps the author of the beam does not even know what the effect of it was!” the Doctor went on to say. He did not know that the beam was generated by a certain Lieutenant Reginald Barclay in a parallel universe.
“But we must save this world from being destroyed!” Adric said.
“That might be difficult. Our only chance, might lie in this machine.” the Doctor said.
“I get your line of reasoning, Doctor. We alter the machine’s operation to prevent it from being used to alter history, and we make it a sliding device!” Quinn replied.

Back on Earth, the Doctor, Arturo and Quinn finished their alterations on the machine. They rigged the machine to beam a wormhole at Planet K. They waited until it became active ( the Doctor guessed it would be active in a few hours, and he was right ), and Planet K was swallowed by the wormhole, never to be seen again. A black hole in the other universe was chosen as the reverse end of the wormhole, a fitting end for this destructive planet.
“Definitely not a ‘NULL DEVICE’,” Professor Arturo said smiling.
“Now, Colin, I think it’s time for us to leave you on this Earth, while we go to the power source of this device, in another universe. I think we will meet you for the ‘first time’ there, won’t we?”, the Doctor said.
“You are correct, Doctor. You yourself told me – indeed you will soon be telling me when I meet you for the first time – that I was not to tell you anything on what happened here,” Colin explained.
After they said their goodbyes – for the time being to Colin – and promised that they would return to pick him up, they left in the TARDIS, it dematerialised.

“On the TARDIS viewscreen, Doctor, quick! It’s Colin, stranded in the timestream! But who’s that woman next to him?” Tegan said.

THE END…

Continued in the next Fanfic Who Sliders 4 ‘The Deva Loka Stargate’, yes, featuring Stargate SG-1

AUTHOR’S NOTES:
The ‘Gua’ the Doctor heard about are from the show First Wave, though the Gua in this fic have nothing to do with those ‘gua’!

All Marks are owned by their owners.

Doctor Who, Tegan, Nyssa, Adric, Hindle are the BBC’s
The Sliders are Fox/Universal/Sci-Fi Channel’s
Aponolophis is my elseworld version of Stargate SG-1’s Apophis
The reference to Ancient is taken from that show too…