Chapter I: Captured

Maddy was panicking: the unexpected arrival of a carnotaurus to the research-site had send everyone running. She looked over her shoulder but all was quiet, nothing moved. This didn't calm her down however: she couldn't hear anyone of the expedition and her radio had fallen out of her bag when she had been running for the trees. She knew she was utterly alone. She could only hope that the others had made it out of the carnotaurus' way unharmed. A loud howl to her right made her jump but it was only a howler. Maddy relaxed somewhat and started to walk east, in the direction of the colony. She knew that she could not be more than 15 kilometers away but nevertheless she feared she wouldn't make it before dark, after all: it was well into the afternoon.

She walked about a mile or so before she noticed something on the ground in front of her: a shoeprint. Sixers! Maddy tried to control her breathing: so they had returned. It was about 4 months after her father and Taylor had taken out Hope Plaza and they hadn't seen the Sixers or the Phoenix-army since. She needed to get back to Terra Nova right away; Taylor had to know about this! Maddy started walking again but soon she stopped again: there were more footprints in front of her. She examined them more closely. Silently she thanked Mark for teaching her how to distinguish tracks. There were not more than 5 of them and they seemed to be walking into the same direction as she did. Maddy felt nervous; judging from the plants around them these prints could not be older than a few hours. Maddy felt insecure: she didn't know what she should do: follow them in the direction of Terra Nova or take a longer but safer path home? Before she could decide what to do however she heard voices. Without thinking she crept forward silently.

After a few feet she got to a clearing in the jungle. There, next to a small well, a camp had been build. 4 men, obviously army men, and 1 woman were standing in the middle of the clearing. Clearly an argument had broken out between the woman and the men.

"No! No way! I'm not going to do it!" the woman yelled.

"The way I see it you don't have a choice, professor." One of the men answered.

"I made this technology so that I could prove I was right, not to destroy other worlds. This is science, not economy!"

"Look lady," the man answered brandishing his firearm in her face "You got us here! And now you're going to tell how to use the key to get back home. And when we get back, we're going to make a lot of money with this."

Maddy had no idea what they were talking about. She only knew that the woman looked vaguely familiar to her.

The woman shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? Even if you could figure out how to use the key, you wouldn't be able to use it. I'm the only one that can use it and I'm not going to help you destroy this world."

The man's patience had evidently worn out: he punched the woman in the face and walked away as she fell to the ground. Too late Maddy noticed that he walked over to his friends and that there were now only 3 men in the clearing. Just as she realized this someone put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her into the camp.

"Look what I found!" A man yelled as he pushed Maddy forward.

Maddy looked up, terrified. The men and the, now bloody, woman gathered around her. One of the men took her bag from her as she got back on her feet.

"But… this… this is impossible! There are not supposed to be people in this era. I mean…" The woman was utterly confused by Maddy's sudden appearance.

"Shut up!" The man who had hit her stepped forward. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Maddy opened her mouth to answer but closed it again when she realized that these people were neither Sixers or Phoenix. They obviously had no idea about all that.

The man in front of her grabbed her and shook her: "I asked you a question!"

"Leech! Leave her alone!" The woman tried to pull him away but all she got was another slap in the face. Nevertheless Leech let go of her and turned to the others. "Guard her, and the professor as well!"

15 kilometers to the east from the campsite an overly agitated Jim Shannon was pacing around in commander Taylors' office. Taylor himself was staring at a few monitors who gave a heat signature-image from the surroundings of the camp site were Maddy had been had been doing an internship.

"Goddammit Taylor! Why hasn't she been found yet?"

Taylor chose to ignore Jim's cursing and pacing around and concentrated instead on the monitors.

"The problem is, Jim, that there is a lot of wildlife in that area. It makes it a lot harder to track an individual down."

Behind him Jim kicked a chair in front of Taylors' desk to ventilate his frustration. He hadn't been too enthusiastic about Maddy doing that internship outside the colony but he knew that she had really wanted it. He started staring out of a window; thinking about Elizabeth's face when he had told him Maddy was missing after a carnotaurus had attacked the camp. It took him a while to realize Taylor was standing next to him with his hand on his schoulder.

"I just had a message from Guz: they found 3 more survivors and they are bringing them in as we speak. Guz already asked them about Maddy, he said, and they told him they saw her running for the trees. They also said that the carnotaurus did not follow her. Malcoms new assistant was the only casualty that they knew of."

Jim relaxed somewhat. "Thanks, I better go tell Elizabeth."

Taylor went outside and watched Jim running in the direction of the clinic. He was worried for his friends' family. From the corner of his eye he saw Mark Reynolds staring at the approaching vehicle. The look on his face was one of pure anguish. Taylor wanted to walk over but as he took the first step in Marks' direction the rover carrying the survivors pulled up in front of him. He ran over to Guz but Reynolds beat him to it and started questioning him, not caring that he was talking to a superior.

Maddy stared at the man standing about 3 feet from her. She was sitting on the ground with her hands bound behind her back. The other men had gone about their business. The woman sat next to her, eying their guard. Maddy looked at her: the longer she watched, the more she seemed familiar.

"Where are you from?" Maddy whispered.

The woman looked a little startled.

"I live in Louvain, in Belgium." She whispered back, still eying the guard.

Maddy gasped, causing the guard the look around.

"But that is impossible!" Maddy whispered furiously once the guard had turned away. "Louvain was destroyed 10 years ago."

The woman was evidently shocked. "What do you mean? Destroyed?"

Maddy opened her mouth but closed it again. This was odd indeed.

"From which year are you?" she asked instead.

"2017, it was the 19th of July when we left for this place."

Maddy stared at the woman with open mouth. People from the early 21st century were not supposed to be able to do that, there was only one person from that time who had known about the possibility of time travel and she… Maddy gasped again.

"You…you are… you're Noah Storms."

"How do you…"

"Hey! Shut up, you two!"

Both women looked up, they had completely forgotten about their guard. They both started staring in different directions, trying not to make eye contact with each other or their guard. Maddy was shocked: Noah Storms! The Noah Storms; the first person to write down the principles of time travel. The scientist who had practically laid the foundations of Terra Nova. She had not just written down the principles but a manifest as well, a manifest that stated the just causes for time travel. It had an entire chapter on the establishment of a time colony, a colony she had called 'Terra Nova'. Maddy stared at the woman. Was this really her? Maddy knew all about her. How was it possible that she hadn't recognized her before?

"How do you know who I am?" Noah Storms asked her silently.

"Because you wrote down the principles of time travel." Maddy replied breathlessly. "You are the reason we got a second chance, if it hadn't been for you our scientists might not have figured out what the rift was."

Storms looked at Maddy in utterly confused. "What rift? Where are you from?"

Maddy hesitated: she didn't know how much she could tell Storms, or what information would compromise the future. This was tricky.

"Well…" Maddy caught sight of Leech walking over to one of the tents. "Who are those guys?"

"Idiots." Storms scoffed. "I hired them to come with me. I didn't think it would be a good idea to go through the stream on my own. Turns out I was wrong."

"The stream?"

"The time stream, you know, what you would have to pass to time travel. They are ex-military, I thought I could trust them. Once again, It's being proven I'm a bad judge of character."

Noah Storms looked at the girl sitting next to her. She could not be older than 18. She seems to know her, she certainly knew her theory. Noah started eying the men again. She needed to think: if she was going to get herself out of this mess she needed her key back. Unfortunately she was in no position to get it. Although they hadn't tied her up like the girl, she was a prisoner just like her. Suddenly a thought struck her.

"You're not alone here, are you?"

The girl shook her head. "There's a settlement about 15 kilometers to the east. We live there, it's our home."

Noah was dumbfounded. "An actual time colony… wow, I never thought it would be real."

Somehow this remark made the girl smile.

"I'm Maddy, Maddy Shannon." She answered Noah's unspoken question.

Noah started eying the guard again. They obviously had no idea what Maddy's presence meant. If she could somehow contact this settlement maybe they could help her and Maddy. Or maybe… The guards' attention was slacking: he sat down next to the well with his back to them. Slowly, without a sound, Noah started to move closer to Maddy.

"I'm going to try to untie you. If I can we could make a run for it and try to reach your home."

Maddy shook her head. "They'll notice."

"We have to try."

"No, it's better if you try alone. Just walk towards the east, after a mile or 15 you will come across a road: follow it. Ask to see commander Taylor, he'll help."

"Who?"

"Commander Taylor, he's tall and has a beard."

Noah hesitated: "I can't leave you here."

"Just go! It's going to be dark before you get there. You have to go now."

Noah looked up: their guard, Angus, was totally absorbed by a magazine he brought with him. She knew she might not get the chance again. She looked at Maddy again and nodded. Slowly, with her eyes on Angus' back, she got up. Very slowly she started moving towards the bushes that were nearest to where they were. It took her 3 minutes to get across the 4 feet separating her from cover but she made it. With a last look on Maddy she slipped between the branches and took off. After a 100 meters she felt safer and started running eastwards.

Taylor look out over the field in front of Terra Nova. It was getting dark, he couldn't see anymore where the road disappeared into the jungle. Next to him Jim sighed, his eyes transfixed on the same road as if he was hoping his daughter would just walk in from the dark.

"She'll be alright."

Taylors' words made Jim jump, so intense had his concentration on the road been.

"You know or you hope?"

Taylor looked at his friend: "I know, Jim, she's like you. Hell, each of your children could take on this jungle singlehanded. With strong-willed parents like you and Elizabeth they can do anything."

In the dark the cry of a slasher was heard. Taylor saw Jim whimper. He was about to say something when he saw Jims' face change. He quickly turned around and saw a figure running towards the gate very fast, a slasher in pursuit. The figure was about a 150 meters away from the gate but the slasher was gaining fast on his prey. Taylor didn't lose a second.

"Tower! Aim for the slasher! Take him out! Take him out!"

His men responded quickly and fired their sonic canons. It took his men 3 shots before they hit the slasher. By then both Taylor and Jim were already at the gate with firearms. Taylor didn't see the figure anymore and for a second he feared they were too late, but then he noticed the body on the ground. Followed by Jim and 3 other soldiers They ran across the last 100 meters that separated the now motionless figure from Terra Nova. While his men took position around them to watch for others slashers, Jim and Taylor kneeled down by the figure. It wasn't Maddy, instead they looked down on an unconscious woman with short dark brown hair.

"Who the hell is that?" Jims' disappointment was clearly audible in his voice.