The four Sliders jumped out of the wormhole. It was night, and it looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, with no lights shining ahead. The four friends were happy that their personalities had turned back to normal. On the other hand, they were extremely sad that they had missed the unique opportunity to return to Earth Prime. Suddenly, two huge lights flashed over the travelers. The closer the glow came, the louder the deafening sound became. With the light source right in front of them, the Sliders realized where they were. It was the runway of an airport, and the source of the light and noise was a plane coming in for a landing.        

Season 6 credits: Quinn, Wade, Remmy, The Professor

Fortunately, at the last minute, they managed to dodge being struck by the plane, before it hit the ground. The Sliders left the airport as quickly as possible and headed for downtown San Francisco. The display of the timer was counting down from 32 hours until the next slide. In the city, they noticed people behaving strangely. Most of them were smoking cigarettes, weed, or injecting drugs directly into their veins, in presence of other people. After checking into the Lamplighter Motel, situated in the same location as the Dominion Hotel in most of the parallel worlds they travelled to, the travelers headed downtown to find food. Quinn and the Professor bought hot dogs from a fast-food vendor and Wade got cotton candy, which she immediately began to eat. After a while, the Professor noticed that Wells had enlarged pupils and was acting rather strangely. Arturo and Quinn threw the hot dogs in the garbage because they suspected that drugs were added to the local food.

On the way back to the motel, the Sliders witnessed riots caused by opponents of drugs. The police, led by Colonel Patson, appeared on the scene. The officers arrested many rebels, incidentally including Rembrandt Brown. Quinn and the Professor managed to escape, but unfortunately, Wade got lost in the crowd. Back at the motel, Arturo and Mallory tested a sample of the cotton candy that Wade had been eating previously, which tested positive for ecstasy. Suddenly, the drug police stormed into the room. It turned out that the motel receptionist had summoned them when he identified Professor Arturo as a suspiciously familiar face. Luckily, they managed to escape. On a side street, one of the drug activists recognized the Professor and offered to help them. He led them to a hidden place called “The Kitchen”, which was the center of anti-drug activists.

Meanwhile, Remmy had been tested at the Toxification Center. Doctors were shocked that there were no traces of drugs in his body. They decided to inject him with powerful drugs. At the same time, Wade wandered the streets of the city buying more cotton candy and drug-soaked cocktails with the last of her money. She became more and more addicted to them. Meanwhile, Quinn was informed that “The Kitchen” was a place where drug opponents produced illegal, healthy food that didn’t contain addictive substances. Timothy Leary, the leader of the opponents of drugs, in this world was also a former friend of the Professor. In this dimension, Arturo died in an accident a few years ago. Leary suspected an assassination because Maximillian loudly opposed the addition of drugs to food by the government. The problems with drugs in this world began in the 1960s when J. Edgar Hoover decided to legalize them.

At the same time in Washington, the leaders of the Food and Drug Administration were debating the need to validate the Water Act, which not only added drugs to the food supply but also to the nation’s drinking water. They also talked about the urgent need to catch Leary and the apparently resurrected Arturo. It turned out that the FDA was headed by a ruthless double of Wade Wells, who ordered Colonel Patson to catch both anti-drug leaders. The agents quickly tracked down the headquarters of “The Kitchen,” and attacked the facility. Leary was caught, and Arturo, Mallory, and an activist named Monica Sanders escaped into the wilderness by car. They found a shelter on one of the healthy food farms. Quinn noticed that there were only a few hours left until the slide. He had to drive back into town to find Wade and Remmy. The Professor asked Quinn to report to the press about the local government's fraud. He was very anxious to reveal the truth because he took the matter personally. His own brother, in our world, had died of a drug overdose.

Even though Rembrandt was stunned by the drugs, he miraculously managed to get out of the Toxification Center. He then found Wade, bemused in one of the clubs, where she continued to devour food laced with drugs. After a while, Quinn found them both, and got them into a car headed towards the Sun Valley Farm. Along the way, the Sliders found a transmitter van from one of the television stations, which they managed to hijack. Upon reaching the farm, they saw that it was under siege by the local drug police, led by Patson. He reached the Professor through Monika Sanders. She turned out to be a secret agent of the FDA and a traitor to drug opponents. To save the Professor, Quinn drove the transmitter van inside of the building. He quickly set up the camera and began a live broadcast.

In front of the whole Narcotica, as this version of America was called, Maximillian Arturo told about the federal government and FDA frauds that forced people to use drugs to control society, and now also wanted to contaminate their drinking water with drugs. As an example, the Professor showed Wade, who almost lost her life because of the drugs, and would now require a detox. Even though Colonel Patson was targeting the Professor and could kill him at any moment, he unexpectedly gave it up. He decided that Arturo might actually be right. He himself, missed the childhood flavors, such as the taste of real fruits and vegetables. To make an even greater impression on the people of this world, Mallory asked Patson to take over the role of camera operator, while Quinn activated the wormhole. The Sliders jumped into it, which was seen by all of the viewers in front of their tv-sets in Narcotica, and left them stunned. Many of them looked at the drugs they used every day with disgust.

Inspired by a Acclaim comic book
 Text: Bartosz Listewnik
Translation: Brick Lady