Warning: Character deaths
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, no copyright intended.
I normally ask people to leave comments if they enjoy what they're reading. Since the theme of this piece is not one you can 'enjoy' I simply ask that, if this moves you, your comments and love will be appreciated.
This is my last Connor/Abby fic at least for the foreseeable future , though I do still intend to write Primeval fics.
Lester pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the task ahead. It was not the first time that he'd been in this position and sadly he knew it would not be the last, but that didn't make it any easier.
The ARC was silent. He'd sent everyone home, except for one security guy who had shut himself away in Becker's office to watch the CCTV screens. Lester couldn't face having to speak to the staff at the moment.
He sighed and reached for the file that Jess had left on his desk. No point putting this off any longer. The sooner the next of kin was informed, the better. There were arrangements to be made so that everyone could begin the grieving process properly and then they could all attempt to move on. It wasn't a surprise that there was only one name on the contact list other than each other. It struck Lester that their entire lives had revolved around the ARC and that they didn't have anything else outside of it. The very nature of the work was to blame. Whether that was a good thing or not, he couldn't decide.
The dial tone seemed loud and almost aggressive, making Lester pause for a moment to gather his thoughts and push aside his personal feelings. Now was not the time for him to lose it. He had a job to do.
The phone rang three times before it was answered by a machine. Lester almost hung up; this was not the sort of news you just left on a recording, but he knew he had to say something. Holding his breath, he waited for the beep and then he began.
"Jack Maitland? This is James Lester from the Home Office," he swallowed down the lump in his throat before continuing, hearing his voice change as he forced himself not to get emotional. "I'm afraid there's been an accident and your sister..." He couldn't even bring himself to say her name. It would make it real if he did. "I need you to call me as a matter of urgency so that we can make necessary arrangements." He left his mobile number and hung up before biting down on his bottom lip. He would not cry; not yet. Someone had to stay strong if the ARC was going to pull through this latest set back.
The computer monitor in front of him blinked and informed him that he had a new email. It was from Matt and was titled "Field Incident Report" Lester shook his head. Matt had ignored his instruction to go home and had written up his account of what had happened. It was typical of the man he'd employed to lead the team, and it also wouldn't surprise him if Captain Becker had also ignored the instruction and was locked away in an office somewhere compiling his report as well.
Lester knew it could wait until morning and that he should try and get some sleep. He would have to inform the Minister tomorrow, and no doubt Jack Maitland would need to be spoken to. Without sleep, he would be useless. He knew the basics of the report anyway. He'd been stood next to Jess at her console, listening in to the conversations. He'd heard the tone of both Becker and Matt's voices and knew the situation was bad; the worse they'd ever been in. But as he leaned forward to switch his computer off, he gave in. He had to know exactly what had happened. Perhaps it would help him make sense of it; perhaps it would help him come to terms with the fact that this time, Connor and Abby would not be coming home.
#-#-#-#
Sixteen hours earlier
Matt flicked through the pile of mail on his desk, ignoring most of it. The cream coloured envelope at the top stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all of the official letters, but he pushed it to one side since he already knew what the contents were. Jess had practically pounced on him the moment he'd arrived.
"Connor and Abby have given out their wedding invitations! Isn't it exciting?"
"It's hardly a surprise, Jess." The wedding preparations had dominated the social chat at the ARC for the best part of the last three months. "You're just excited at the excuse to buy a new outfit."
"I don't need an excuse to buy new clothes, you know me, Matt!"
Matt chuckled. Yes, he knew Jess. According to Becker, Jess's wardrobe was bigger than the entire clothing section at Selfridges. He closed the door to his office and waited for his computer to start up. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to the wedding, far from it. It was just the fact that he knew the invite would say "plus one". There's nothing like a wedding to emphasize just how single a person is. Emily had decided to go off travelling 7 weeks ago. She wanted to see the world, and who could blame her. She'd promised to stay in touch, but the occasional postcard was no substitute for the physical contact he craved.
There was a knock on the door and it opened before Matt had chance to even call out to "come in". It was Jess with his usual morning cup of coffee. He smiled and thanked her and turned to his computer, hoping she'd take the hint and leave. She didn't. After a few moments, he sighed. "Can I help you?"
"I was just wondering if you'd decided who you'll be taking to the wedding?"
"You need a date? I thought you'd be going with Becker?"
"Oh, I am... I just.. Have you heard from Emily?"
"Last I heard she was heading for Morocco, so no, I won't be taking her to the wedding."
"That's a shame. Still, maybe Abby or Connor has a cousin that's single."
Matt was about to make it very clear that he did not need Jess to do any match-making for him when the anomaly alarm sounded. Jess was already out of the door, running down the corridor as best as she could in her heels, and he followed muttering something about being saved by the bell. By the time the pair of them reached the console, Connor was already locking in on the location. Matt waited for Jess to say something but then he remembered that Connor was the only person she allowed to use the console other then herself. Had it been anyone else sitting there, they would have had been out on their ear by now.
"What have we got, Connor?" Matt asked whilst Jess began handing out the field earpieces and black boxes.
"About 20 minutes from here, not a residential area, thank goodness. But these readings are a bit odd. Jess?
Jess leaned over and studied them for a moment before a smug smile spread across her face. It wasn't often she knew something that Connor didn't and she revelled in those moments. "Those kind of readings usually mean one of two things. It could be that there's two anomalies in the same place, although we haven't seen that since before the convergence, or it could be that there's something interfering with the signal. Last time we had this, there was a mobile phone mast nearby operating on a similar frequency to the one the anomalies give off."
"Hm, well it doesn't look like the kind of place they'd erect a phone mast." Connor's mouth twitched and he glanced at Matt, anxious to see if he was concerned at the possibility of there being two anomalies like they'd had at the old prison. If he was, then as usual he was giving nothing away.
"Connor, Abby, you two with me and Becker can take a couple of his men with him. We shouldn't need a full team, but Jess can keep monitoring the police frequencies for possible creature sightings in the area." Matt nodded his command and turned to leave, the team following him swiftly as always.
The mood was light as they travelled towards the anomaly's location. Abby sat in front with Matt, monitoring the Sat Nav and chatting to him about his new research project that he was setting up at the ARC, whilst Connor used his iphone to download the satellite data that Jess was sending him. It seemed the anomaly was in a disused quarry. There hadn't been any mining activity there for some years, but as he studied the information he realised why the readings may have been strange.
"There's a lot of lodestone in the area," he said.
"Lodestone?" Abby turned around, puzzled.
"It's a form of magnetite and has magnetic properties. They used to hang pieces of them on string in the old days to make a very crude compass. That could be affecting the anomaly readings that we're getting." He was pleased with himself for finding the solution, and he saw Matt visibly relax too – he had been worried about there being two anomalies after all.
Abby smiled, remembering some of Connor's early experiments with the anomalies when he discovered that they had a magnetic field. At the time she'd thought him immature and had rolled her eyes at him as he gleefully allowed pens, keys, spoons and other metal objects to be released from his hand and sucked into the anomaly. Of course now she realised that that was how Connor worked; he wasn't afraid to try something even if he looked a bit silly, and sometimes she thought he played up to the "bumbling idiot" label so that he could get away with doing something a bit odd. Many of the things they now knew about anomalies had been discovered through one of Connor's crazy experiments. Right now, she couldn't be more proud of him and all that he had achieved.
"It was also pretty useful in my time, too," Matt said. "When technology began to fail us because we had no source of electricity, we had to resort to ancient methods of finding our way around." Abby sat back around in her seat, hoping Matt would expand on his story. It was a rare occasion for him to speak of anything of his own time, and when he did it was only in the company of Connor or Abby. Abby decided that was probably because they had been there too, albeit briefly. No-one else could even begin to grasp just how bad things had been in the future that he had lived in. However, he had turned his attention to what Becker was saying through the comms device and the moment was gone.
Becker was some minutes ahead of them having managed to avoid the red light at the train crossing by the shopping precinct. They had arrived at the site and were trying to locate the anomaly. "I don't see it," Becker was saying.
"The rocks in the quarry contain magnetite," Matt responded. "Given Jess's readings, I'd say the anomaly is somewhere within the rock face itself."
"Great. I'll call in the bomb squad then shall I? Blow up the entire quarry to get to the anomaly?" The sarcasm in Becker's voice made them all smile since they all knew that Becker would actually enjoy the chance to set off a controlled explosion or two.
"That won't be necessary, Becker," Jess interrupted. "I'm sending some deep scan satellite images to Connor's phone. They show tunnels and old mine shafts. Getting to the anomaly shouldn't be a problem, but I hope you've got torches."
By the time Abby, Connor and Matt pulled up and parked next to Becker's vehicle, the soldiers were getting ready to start exploring the tunnels to look for the anomaly. After double checking that there were no civilians around, Matt suggested that he, Abby and Connor did a sweep of the area to check for any creatures that may have wandered through the anomaly.
"Let's hope that if they did wander, they came outside and aren't hidden in the tunnels. We'd never find them!" Connor grinned. "They'd probably find Becker's men first."
These were the best kind of anomaly calls, with no-one else to worry about the team could concentrate on what they had to do. The priority was locking down the anomaly so that nothing could come through, and then check to see if anything had come through before they'd arrived. If it had, then they ensured it was put back where it belonged. They all thrived on being able to do the job properly, and it looked like today was going to an easy task if they could find where the anomaly was.
Suddenly, Abby stopped and motioned for Matt and Connor to stay still. "Over there," she whispered, nodding her head in the direction of some shrubbery. There was something moving inside. Abby took a step closer and what appeared to be a rat scurried out.
"Did that look unusual to you?" Matt asked, turning to Connor.
"I need a better look, but something isn't right." Connor followed after where the creature had gone and soon found it attempting to hide in a clump of grass. He knelt down slowly, trying not to make any sudden movement so that he could get a good look at the tiny creature. "Hello," he said softly, making a mental note of what he could see of it and trying to think if he'd seen anything like it before. It did look rodent like, but had a longer snout
"Well?" Abby whispered. "What is it?"
"I think it's a Megazostrodon, late Triassic period. It's not quite a mammal, but it's one of the earliest versions in the evolutionary scale of things."
"You're sure? I don't want to send a 21st Century rat through an anomaly." Matt was certain that Connor would be right; one of the things he'd read about him when he first took on his role as team leader was that Connor had a knowledge that was more extensive than Google when it came to prehistoric creatures.
"As sure as I can be," Connor got up. "We need to try and catch that little bugger and make sure it hasn't brought any friends with it. Once Becker's found the anomaly, I can use the dating calculator. If we get late Triassic, or maybe very early Jurassic, then chances are I'm right about what the creature is and we can send it back through without a worry."
Abby was already making her way back to the vehicles to look for the plastic pet carrier she used for small creatures like Rex. If she could coax this Megazostrodon into it, getting it back through the anomaly should be easy. Using an EMD was not an option here as far as she was concerned. They'd never been tested on anything that small, and it was likely the shock could kill it.
With the carrier found, she walked back to where she'd left Connor and Matt. Connor had the creature cradled in his hands, stroking its head with his thumb to try and calm it down. Matt was on his hands and knees scrabbling through the tall grass. "We spotted a second one when I grabbed this one," Connor explained, putting his creature into the carrier and then kneeling beside Matt to assist him. "Makes sense that there'd be a pair of 'em. If you're gonna get yourself trapped on the wrong side of an anomaly, you need your best mate with you, right?"
Matt grunted, then yelled out. He immediately put his finger in his mouth and sucked it. "Damn thing bit me!"
"Here, let me see," Abby took Matt's hand and examined it. "Doesn't look too deep, but you should probably get a tetanus shot when we get back. I'll clean it up for you, we should have some antiseptic wipes in the first aid kit." She tugged Matt's hand and they went over to find the first aid kit that was kept in the glove box of Becker's vehicle. "You need to catch that creature, Connor," she called behind her.
"What if it bites me too?"
"I'll see if Becker keeps any Mickey Mouse plasters in the kit."
As Abby cleaned the wound on Matt's finger, they watched Connor trying to coax the second creature out of hiding. "I'm more than capable of doing this myself," Matt said. "You should probably help Connor and make sure there's no more of those things around."
"I wanted to catch you on your own," Abby said quietly. "You will be coming to the wedding?"
"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"That's a relief. Connor and I really do want you to be there, but I know how hard it is going to those kind of things on your own. The invite does just say you, but if Emily..."
"I doubt Emily will be back in time, but thank you."
"Having you there is important to us, Matt. It wouldn't be right without you."
"I'll be there, Abby. Though I should warn you, if you or Connor have any single female relatives, Jess intends to try and set me up with them." He laughed, then winced as Abby dabbed the antiseptic on his wound.
"You don't have to worry about that. You'll be safe."
Connor shouted over for Abby to come and help him. It seemed he'd caught the second creature but didn't want to open the door on the carrier in case the other one got out. "Go," Matt said. "I'll put a plaster over this and then I'll see if Becker has located our anomaly yet."
He watched Abby jog back over to Connor and between them they got both of the creatures shut away into the safety of the carrier. He envied them and how they seemed to work as one. He supposed that was what true love was. With a sigh, he gathered his thoughts and scanned his eyes around the quarry for Becker. The soldier was walking over towards where Abby and Connor were, so he went over to join them.
"We have a problem, Matt," Becker began. "The anomaly is at the end of a long horizontal shaft cut into the rock. The shaft's too small for any of my men to get down, and the anomaly is too far away for the locking device to work."
"How small?" Abby asked. "Would I fit?"
"Probably, but I don't think that would be a good idea."
"You're not going all sexist on me, are you Captain Becker?" Abby frowned. "I'm sure I scrambled along more dangerous tunnels during our year in the Cretaceous. Even if I can only get halfway, would that be close enough to use the locking device?"
"Yes. Matt, it's your call."
"Maybe I could go too?" Connor said. "At least follow behind her as far as I can. We can tie a rope around her waist, so if she has difficulties, we can pull her back." He smiled at Abby, proud that she never shied away from putting herself on the front line.
"OK. Radio comms on at all times, both of you."
And so, a few minutes later, Abby was crawling along the long narrow shaft towards the familiar flickering light of the anomaly, pushing the pet carrier in front of her. Behind her, Connor had the locking device. The plan was that Abby would release the two creatures when she got close to the anomaly and once they were safely through, Connor would pass the locking device through to her so that she could close it. They'd then shuffle back along the shaft.
Abby went to open the door of the carrier, but Connor stopped her. "We should check the dating calculator first. Matt was right when he said we should make sure we're not sending rats that belong here to their doom." He reached into his back pocket and activated the device he'd invented as a side project whilst he was working on New Dawn. It indicated that the anomaly led to the late Triassic, so he was pretty certain the creatures were Megazostrodons as he'd thought and gave Abby the nod to open the carrier and release them.
But when Abby shooed them towards the anomaly, they turned back and scurried towards her. It was almost as if they were afraid of the strange light. After several attempts to make them go through, Abby grew frustrated. "I'll have to take them through myself Connor, otherwise we'll be here all day."
"Abby, I don't think..."
"No arguing. Keep hold of the rope. If I get into any bother, I'll tug on it and you can come rescue me."
Connor watched helplessly as Abby disappeared through the anomaly. He may have been proud of her but sometimes he wished she wasn't quite so strong willed. His heart was in his mouth as he waited for her to come back. He knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself but it wouldn't stop him worrying. Behind him, he heard a sound that struck dread through his entire body. A few rocks had fallen.
"Connor? Is everything OK?" Matt's voice said in his ear.
"Yeah, Abby had to take the creatures through herself and um... I think a few rocks have been dislodged or something."
"Get out of there as soon as you can. Those shafts have been there for years but the anomaly could be making the structure unstable."
"You could be right, Matt. I'll get Abby back through and we'll lock the anomaly and head back." Connor tugged on the rope to signal for Abby to come back, and a few more rocks fell.
"You should see this, Connor!" Abby's head appeared through the anomaly. "It's beautiful."
"No time. I think the magnetite in the rock is being pulled towards the anomaly. We need to get the anomaly locked so we can get out of here."
A few more rocks fell as he anxiously watched Abby crawl back into the shaft and begin to move towards him. Suddenly, there was a loud rumble and the sides of the shaft began to cave in around them. Connor's automatic instinct was to cover his head with his arms, calling out to Abby. He froze, waiting for the rock fall to stop with his heart pounding hard in his chest.
"Connor? What happened?" Matt asked.
"It's collapsing, Matt!"
"Get out of there, Connor."
"Abby?" There was no response. It was pitch dark. The fallen rocks had blocked the shaft between him and Abby and the anomaly. "Abby?" Panic set in and he began to move the rocks away to get to her.
"Connor, Jess is on the phone to the emergency services. Professional help is on the way. You need to get yourself out of there now." Matt ordered.
"I'm not leaving her!" Connor responded. "She could be hurt." Tears were stinging his eyes, but he fought against them. He knew that if he lost his composure now, he would be no help to Abby at all. He ignored Matt in his ear telling him it was foolish and that there was no point in both of them getting trapped. He had to get to Abby.
Some minutes later, he could see light from the anomaly filtering through. A few more rocks were moved and then he shuffled forward, peering through the hole he'd made. "Abby?"
"Connor?" Her voice sounded weak, but at least she was conscious. Relief washed over him and he reached through the hole.
"Take my hand, Abby. I'll help you." Abby reached up and grabbed hold of his hand and somehow she managed to drag herself up to the hole. When he saw her, the relief turned to concern again. She was bleeding from a nasty gash on her forehead and her face looked very pale. He'd only ever seen her look so ill once in the Cretaceous when she'd slipped on some rocks whilst they were fishing and had been swept away by the fast current of the river. Connor had run after her and found her clinging for her life on a fallen tree. She'd been badly shaken, and it was several days before her headache had eased.
"Let's get out of here, eh?" he said softly, helping her through the hole he'd made. He could feel her body trembling as he pulled her towards him and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Come on."
Connor began to shuffle backwards, guiding Abby with him. "Connor, we need to lock the anomaly," she said.
"You're right," he said, trying to turn and reach behind him to find the locking device. As he turned, he heard two sounds that filled him with dread. The first was a loud rumbling, like a fast approaching train. The second was Abby screaming. It then went black.
-o-
"Connor? Abby?" Matt had been desperately trying to raise both of them on the comm since they'd heard the second rumble and a cloud of dust filtered out of the entrance to the shaft.
"Maybe they both went through the anomaly to escape?" Becker offered, but he knew it was a long shot.
"Jess, how far away are the rescue team?"
"Five minutes, Matt. And in answer to Becker's question, their black boxes are both still showing on my tracker so they're still on this side of the anomaly." Jess voice was wobbling as she tried to maintain her control of the situation. "What do I tell Lester? He's going to want to know why we had to involve the emergency services."
"The truth, Jess. Connor and Abby are trapped by fallen rocks and it's too dangerous to send our own men in without risking more lives. I know he doesn't like getting outside agencies involved, but we're just not equipped to deal with this."
Matt stood watching helplessly as the professional team arrived and were briefed by Becker on what had occurred. They set off to work straight away, assessing the stability of the remaining rock and setting up pneumatic drills to try and make a new shaft that would take them directly to where they believed Connor and Abby to be. His earpiece was tuned to both Abby's and Connor's frequencies and he was listening very carefully for any sound from either. Even a groan of pain would be good right now.
Becker was anxiously pacing around. He hated not helping, and eventually he gave in. Taking off his combat gear, he approached the leader of the rescue team and offered his assistance. He was set to work clearing away the rocks that the pneumatic drill had removed. The soldiers also stepped forward to help, frantically moving the rocks desperate to find signs of Abby and Connor.
Matt felt a lump on his throat. He'd witnessed scenes like this many times back in the future that he'd been born into. It rarely ended well, though in his time there had been the additional complications of the air being toxic. He willed the rescuers to work faster. Each moment that passed felt like an eternity. He could Lester in his ear talking to Jess and asking for updates. It was not the sound he wanted to hear.
The light was beginning to fade, and the leader of the rescue team was asking for some flood lights to be bought in if they didn't find Abby and Connor soon, but as Matt put the request through to Jess, someone shouted that they'd found them.
Matt rushed forward and stood beside Becker. He felt sick. Something told him that all was not well. The looks on the rescuers faces were despondent and he knew they were too late. Becker still seemed to have a glimmer of hope left, he frantically grasped at rocks to clear the way for the rescuers, but as more and more was exposed, the reality of the situation hit him too and he stepped away.
"Matt? What's going on?" Lester said.
Matt pulled himself together and said the words he had been preparing to say for some long minutes. "They're dead."
There was a silence as everyone tried to process the information. They had lost team members before, but this particular loss would be felt hardest of all.
"Matt, did I hear you correctly? Connor and Abby, they're both dead?"
"Yes." He closed his eyes, listening to Jess sobbing before he switched his earpiece off. Right now, he needed to be strong and take the lead. Arrangements needed to be made. With a deep breath he strode over to where the last of the fallen rocks were being moved away. He stared at the bodies of his colleagues – no, his friends - for a few moments.
Becker placed his hand on Matt's shoulder. "At least they were together," he said quietly. "That's how they would've wanted it."
Matt nodded. From their positions, it looked like Connor had covered Abby's body with his own to try and protect her from the second rock fall. They were holding hands, and their faces seemed to be at peace.
"Yes, we can at least take comfort in that," Matt said.
#-#-#-#
Lester made his way through the silent corridors of the ARC past Matt's office. The light filtered around the edges of the door, telling him that he'd been right about Matt not going home. He knocked once and opened it.
"I thought I gave an order for everyone to go home?"
Matt had been sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, staring at the cream envelope. Lester stood beside him.
"Go home, Matt. You've already done more than I could've asked for."
"I needed to get it all down, try to make sense of it whilst it was still fresh in my mind," Matt said "If I'd slept on it, I think some of the facts may have been confused with my own emotions."
"Understandable. It can't have been easy out there for you and Becker." Lester turned to leave. He didn't know much about the quiet, sometimes mysterious man that he had employed as the team leader, but what he did know was that he would not go home until he was ready and there would be no point pushing him on it. He was about to say 'goodnight' when a thought hit him.
"You haven't opened the wedding invitation yet. Perhaps you should. It might help."
"Goodnight, Lester."
Matt watched the older man leave and stared at the closed door for a few minutes, his fingers running along the edges of the envelope. There didn't seem much point in looking at it now, but curiosity got the better of him and he opened it.
The card was a simple design, two doves on the front with hearts and ribbons surrounding them. Inside was a piece of paper folded and fastened inside. On the right was the formal invitation, outlining the date, time and venue. Matt almost closed it, but then noticed that there was a handwritten piece on the left. He recognised Abby's handwriting and he bit down on his bottom lip as he settled back in his chair to read.
Our wedding will not be a lavish affair. We simply want to share our joy with our closest and dearest friends and family. Connor and I have always thrived on being together, it is what got us through our darkest times and it will carry us through our most happy times that are still to come. By sharing our marriage vows with you, we are proving to everyone that we intend to be together for eternity. We know that sounds like a long time, but when you think about it, Connor and I officially became a couple in the Cretaceous era so we've already been together for 85 million years. Eternity doesn't sound so long after that. All my love, Abby.
Matt felt a small smile trace across his face. At least Abby and Connor had got their wish. They had died as they had lived. Together. And would be for eternity.