Central Metropolitan University – 8am
Professor Nick Cutter woke to a blinding headache and a crick in his neck. It took a few moments for awareness to return and with consciousness came the realisation that he'd fallen asleep on his desk at the university, again. Slowly raising his hand to massage his throbbing temples he managed a small, pitiful groan.
'Good morning Cutter!' Although her voice was usually welcome Nick really wished she hadn't spoken so loud. His head shot up and the painful crick is his neck announced it's prescence with vengeance. Cursing in a variety of colourful ways that made Claudia raise her eyebrows, he rubbed the painful spot and turned his gaze to his early morning offender.
'Claudia Brown.' He greeted simply. Seeing his somewhat sleepy appearance Claudia smiled sympathetically and produced a thermos of tea from behind her bag, holding it towards him.
'Sorry?' She offered quietly. Nick smiled slightly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. When he opened them again Claudia had sat down opposite him and was pouring the tea into two mugs.
'Thanks, you're a life-saver.' He told her as he sipped the hop beverage.
'Yet another late night at the office for you?' Claudia asked politely, her eyes sweeping over his rumpled shirt and chaotic hair.
'It would seem so.' He replied as he finished off his tea, 'I suppose nothings come up while I slept.' He added as an afterthought. He would hate to think that the team had gone dinosaur hunting without him.
'Of course not, if there had been we would have woken you.' Claudia replied as she reached over to take the mug back. Her fingers brushed his and he felt a spark at the contact. She gifted him with a smile and leaned forwards again but just as their lips brushed each other her phone went off. Blushing furiously she reached down to answer it.
'Claudia Brown… no of course not… yes he's here… we'll be right over.' She flipped her phone closed with a sigh. Nick, having guessed the other side of the conversation had already stood and picked up his jacket.
'So much for a quiet morning.' He complained and felt Claudia's arm come to rest around his shoulders as she nodded in agreement. Grabbing his keys from his desk draw they left his office and headed towards the car park.
Home Office – 9am
'So you're saying that the anomaly opened for a few seconds and then closed again at eight and did exactly the same thing at eight thirty?' Stephen Hart questioned as Connor talked them through the anomaly's peculiar behaviour.
'Almost as though someone opened it, came through and closed it again.' Cutter mused from his seat.
'You reckon someone has the technology to do that?' Abby asked, sitting forward in interest.
'It's possible,' Cutter responded, 'We've had anomalies opening to the future and what's to say that the people in the future don't have the technology to do things like this? They could quite easily have opened an anomaly from the future, come through and closed it in a short space of time.'
'But it opened twice.' Claudia pointed out.
'Maybe they went back?' Connor suggested as he typed quickly onto his laptop, 'Maybe they came to do something, did it and just went back?'
'Or maybe someone stayed.' Abby added, voicing everyone's thoughts.
'In which case we need to find them, and fast.' Lester decided from his seat at the head of the table, 'Cutter, you take Ryan and his men and get onto it. If you find anyone bring them back here.'
Forest of Dean – 9am
'Jess are you sure this is the right place?' A group of teenagers stood in a clearing, all wearing green khakis uniforms and backpacks.
'I'm certain.' The red-haired, intelligent, fifteen-year-old Jess replied. Everyone believed her. They had no reason not to, Jess was their leader and they would follow her to the end of the earth. They unpacked their bags, producing tents and equipment from various pockets and setting them up whilst Jess walked away, staring out into the woods. Her best friend, Aaron, followed her cautiously.
'Do you think he'll exist here?' Jess asked, sensing the prescence of her most trusted friend behind her.
'Maybe, maybe not, who knows?' Aaron replied, coming to stand next to her, 'Anyway, they'll be here soon. Then you'll know.' He knew that trying to comfort her wouldn't work.
'When he died in our world and mum had to leave me because Helen was threatening her I thought the world had ended. I was only four, I didn't know what I could do, and I couldn't control it. But Helen brought me up as she wanted, exploited my ability, but I fought back.'
'Here you are.' Aaron pointed out, 'Head of the resistance, anomaly explorer. Surely that's worth something?' Jess sighed and nodded.
'I just wished I had been given the chance to get to know him.' She told the silent forest before turning back to her team.
Altogether they were a motley group, yet all of them could do strange things. Jess could heal an ability she'd had since birth. It had made her invulnerable to cuts and broken bones and she had soon learnt to use it on others. Aaron, her best friend and second in command could control fire, which could be either devastating of life-saving. Devon, the youngest and newest member, was a walking clock and always knew the exact time, as though it was woven into his head. Sarah was a maths genius who could answer any question you threw at her in seconds and without a calculator and finally Harry could read other people's thoughts and was blessed with incredible accuracy when shooting.
Together they could be deadly. It was why Helen Cutter had tried so hard to split them up. But here they were, on the other side of the anomaly, safe from her and her army of clones. For now that was.
The sound of engines drew the group's attention. They came closer and closer until the cars and their occupants were visible. Aaron heard Jess draw in a gasp as she saw who was driving the truck at the front. He felt his breath freeze in his chest, it was him. The man Jess had shown his so many times, the man on the picture in her pocket and next to him the woman from the picture.
'Nick Cutter and Claudia Brown.' She breathed and promptly fainted.
Forest of Dean - 9:10am
Captain Ryan saw the group first. They weren't what he had been expecting. By the looks of it they were all teenagers, around five of them, with tents. One of the girls had even fainted. They didn't look like a threat but nonetheless he trained his gun on them as they surrounded the group.
'Jess, are you alright?' One of the older boys was holding the girl that had fainted, who was slowly standing.
'I'm fine, just give me a moment.' She gazed around at the soldiers and noted that her team had pulled their own pistols out, 'Put them away, they're not a threat.' Harry looked reluctant but lowered the gun. Cutter pushed his way through the soldiers.
'Who are you?' He asked as his eyes wandered over the five teenagers stood in front of him. The girl at the front looked strangely familiar.
'The resistance,' the boy beside her replied, 'from another universe, parallel to your own.' Cutter raised his eyebrows at the explanation in disbelief.
'It's true.' The girl stated, backing him up. 'I'm Jess, the leader, this is Aaron, my second in command, Sarah, Harry and Devon.' As she named her team they nodded in acknowledgment.
'Professor…'
'Nick Cutter.' Jess completed ignoring his surprised look, 'Yes I know who you are. I've been waiting for you to turn up.' The soldiers shared bemused glances at her knowledge of Cutter.
'Why? How do you know me?' He questioned.
'I need your help, as to how I know you I suggest you look to your left.' Nick turned and stared at Claudia. He turned back to Jess confused, but that was when he saw it, looking from one to the other it finally clicked.
'That's impossible.' He muttered, taking a step back. Slowly Jess held out the photo from her pocket and Cutter took it with shaking hands, 'impossible.' He repeated, looking from the photo to Jess and back again.
'What is it?' Claudia asked, trying to get a good look at the photo. Jess replied for him.
'My full name is Jessica Zoë Sara Cutter; I'm your daughter in another universe.' This time it was Claudia's turn to faint, Cutter, in his shocked state, only just caught her.
Next time: Jess explains her rather problematic situation and tries to gain Ryan and Lester's trust, Cutter and Claudia learn a little about parenthood whilst Stephen, Connor, Abby and the resistance have to deal with another anomaly.