“In Dino Veritas” is episode eleven (originally shown as episode seven) of season two of Sliders.
Quinn meets the professor; the world they’re leaving mandates the wearing of truth collars and they’re anxious to leave. Rembrandt arrives with a woman; the collar zaps him every time he lies during their goodbye. He tells the professor and Quinn he’s surprised she’s still speaking to him at all. The professor is surprised there are any relationships on this world. Wade arrives; they have problems. There’s no time for wire cutters. A television van arrives and people get out. Wade was being quizzed in a bar and, because of the collar, a reporter wormed the truth out of her. The reporter has come to watch the Slide.
In the next world, Wade lands in a giant egg. Quinn asks the professor what kind it is. The professor has a more interesting questions: Where is San Francisco? Quinn suggests they’re in a park, but there’s no urban noise at all. It’s beautiful and peaceful. Except for the roaring sound from something that has just discovered a broken egg. They run. From a dinosaur.
The professor falls and hurts his ankle. Though no-one notices, the timer falls out of his pocket. They hid as they see a dinosaur come into view. There’s a cave up the hill to hide in. The professor is asked if he can make it. He says yes. And gets zapped. In the cave, Wade thinks the professor’s ankle might be broken. He’s asked how long until the next slide. At which point they discover the timer is missing. Quinn heads out to look for it. Wade gets handkerchiefs and heads to the water to soak them for the professor’s ankle, but has to flee the dinosaur. Back in the cave, Wade finds evidence that there are humans on the world.
As Sliding never involves time travel, the professor wonders what dinosaurs are doing in the 20th century. Wade suggests they didn’t get wiped out (in which case they would have evolved). The dinosaur chasing them tries to get in the cave and they try and drive it off. Only for a woman to tell them to stop; don’t try to blind the dinosaur, they’ve already killed her baby.
The woman is a National Dinosaur Preserve Ranger. After they introduce themselves, the ranger says they are all under arrest. For trespassing and destruction of an endangered species. Poaching. This is the San Francisco Dinosaur Preserve and Spotted Owl Sanctuary. On hearing they have a friend outside, the ranger says they haven’t any more. She couldn’t identify the remains as Quinn; she could barely identify them as human.
The professor calls the dinosaur a T. rex and the ranger corrects him; it’s an Allosaurus. What kind of poacher can’t tell the difference? She’s told they aren’t poachers. What, did they happen to stumble into the forest without noticing the posted signs or electrified fence? As is happens, yes. The ranger states an arrest unit has been dispatched. It should be there the day after tomorrow. Rembrandt goes to grab the ranger and discovers she’s a hologram, to their surprise. She’s in San Jose.
The professor tries to use this surprise to convince the ranger that they aren’t from this world. They need to find Quinn, living or dead, and the timer. The ranger says she’s been following them for weeks and seen the trail of devastation they’ve left behind. Clearly, there are poachers; it’s just not them. Wade asks if they can prove they aren’t from this world, will the ranger try to help them find their friend and equipment? She tries demonstrating the truth collar by telling lies. The ranger just thinks Wade is good at flinching. Wade starts losing it, and asks if the ranger really cares more about dinosaurs than humans. As it happens, she does.
The professor’s ankle is in bad shape, Quinn is out somewhere, missing, and so is the timer. Worse, they don’t know how long they have on this world. Worse again, there are dinosaurs out there. And all the time, they’re still wearing the truth collars. Which make reassuring lies a lot harder.