“The Fire Within” is episode nine (originally shown as episode eight) of season three of Sliders.
Rembrandt is playing a baseball video game and is about to beat the all-time high score. But his watch is slow and they’re about out of time. They have to slide out before Rembrandt can finish, and he’d bet on the game.
The next world is on fire. Fortunately, they’re sliding out in seconds, but before they do, Quinn spots a flame approaching.
The next world is at least not on fire, though Quinn’s coat is. He takes it off and stuffs it in an empty oil barrel. The professor thinks this is a company oil town, and they’re there for four days. Rembrandt hadn’t paid the hotel bill, so they’d have some money. If he hadn’t left it on the bar whilst wagering on the game. As the Sliders leave, flames rise from the oil drum and a mobile one leaves it.
There’s a lot of petrol around and the professor suggests that this world’s major oil deposits are under California. He and Rembrandt start ogling a car that looks like it’s decades out of date. It looks like they’re hiring for an oil refinery, and Wade checks to see if they can get on the truck. They can. As they leave, the flame appears and splits in two, then something catches fire.
A man, Ashton, is talking to what looks like one of the secretarial pool, Diana. Well, flirting; she doesn’t mind. She gets a call and tells him he needs to get back to the office. There’s a fire at the house of the plant manager and it’s thought to be arson.
The flame is now outside a hotel which the Sliders are staying in. There’s a report on the news about the Brotherhood of Petrol Workers and a fire. Which Quinn says looks like the place they slid into.
Quinn, Professor Arturo and Rembrandt are in a bar; the professor makes a comment about what the company does provide, given the woman on stage. He says the union is demanding health insurance. What they currently have is a burial plan. They talk about the fire world and Quinn mentions thinking he saw a flame coming after them. When their shift starts, the professor hears Ashton talking about a fire behaving as if it was alive. Wade spots a woman shoplifting whilst she is buying supplies.
There’s a union demonstration going on as Rembrandt is heading to a lorry he’s going to drive out. The professor and Quinn are working when an alarm sounds. It turns out Rembrandt’s truck is being attacked.
That night, Quinn and Wade are walking back to the hotel. It seems the company provides strong beer as well and Quinn thinks he’ll walk it off. He sees the flame and calls Wade, but it vanishes. Until Quinn staggers in front of a lorry, and it dashes out and saves him somehow.
Quinn and Wade return to the bar and tell Rembrandt. He doesn’t believe them – they have been drinking – until the professor returns and confirms the flame is hiding in the gutter. They assume that it’s the one that’s been causing fires; food, with no-one to tell it to diet. Rembrandt suggests leaving it alone, but Quinn says they brought it to the world. They need to see if they can communicate.
Wade gets involved with the shoplifter; her husband died and the company claimed he accidentally killed himself whilst trying to set a fire. She thinks he was murdered. Quinn and the professor are excited about the opportunity to talk to a living flame. And are concerned about what they may have to do about it if it won’t leave.