Disclaimer: Primeval and its characters belong to Impossible Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended.
A quick story that's been percolating in my brain. I'll be interested to know what you think.
Alternatives
Cutter was livid. Didn't this boy know how important, how life-changing this was? And he behaved like a stupid schoolboy and dragged the girl along with him. The idiot. Well that was it. His chance was blown.
"You go back to Central Metropolitan and resume your studies. I'll get you assigned to a new supervisor."
"But I was as much to blame as him." Why was this girl defending him?
"No you have useful skills and you didn't shoot your mouth off. You can stay."
"But Professor .." the boy wailed. Cutter just turned away in disgust. This was too important to involve children. He couldn't risk his tenuous position with the Home Office for the sake of this boy. He had to stay on this to solve perhaps the greatest mystery man kind had faced. And perhaps to find Helen.
-0-0-0-
Connor was distraught. Sitting on his case outside of Uni he knew he'd screwed up big time. How could he have been so stupid? Abby had asked him to run it past Cutter be he was so scared of looking the fool, and so wanted to impress the Professor that he'd pushed her request aside and almost blackmailed her into joining him.
He should be angry at Tom and Duncan for not respecting him and pulling such a stupid practical joke, but he knew this was all on him. He had screwed up again, just as he screwed up everything in his life. And everyone would know when he was re-assigned to another Professor.
How could he stay studying at Central Met now? Perhaps he could transfer to another university nearer to Blackburn. He could say he was homesick, needed to be near his mother. And Abby, what of Abby? He'd felt so drawn to her. She was so beautiful and so totally out of his league. Well he'd screwed that now too. She wanted Stephen anyway and there was no way he could compete with the 'mighty hunter'. He felt a tear roll down his cheek and he rubbed it angrily away. The feeling that something significant had just happened caused a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach.
And what of the dinosaurs. He'd seen a Scutosauras, a Gorgonopsid and he was fairly sure Rex was a Coelurosauavus all from the Permian era and they'd all come through that, what had the Professor called it, anomaly. How could he leave that behind? Well he'd have to. He was out. That was it.
Connor decided that going back to his studies was all he could do until alternative arrangements could be made. Tom and Duncan were going to rib him mercilessly for this. They had no idea what they had done. In fact avoiding them would probably be best. Seeing them would hurt too much – a reminder of his latest and greatest failure to date.
-0-0-0-
Stephen was dying. As the ambulance took him away, Cutter pondered whether it would have been wise to get Connor back on the team. No, he stood by his earlier recommendation to Claudia, he couldn't risk the boy's childish behaviour.
As he walked back towards Claudia he wracked his brain to figure out a way to save Stephen. He had to get a sample of the venom, but how? Some sort of collection pouch.
Grabbing a passing soldier he asked "Anyone on your team good at jerry-rigging things?" He was pointed in the direction of a soldier busy unloading crates from one of the trucks. "Can you make me a pouch? Something to collect venom and protect my arm at the same time?"
"Yeah, I think so. Give me an hour and I'll see what I can come up with."
"Good man. Quick as you can, Stephen might not have that long."
It made no difference in the end. As Ryan's men swung through the tunnels forcing the spider creatures back through the anomaly there was no sign of the Arthropleura. It must have already gone back through.
Three hours later Stephen died.
-0-0-0-
It took a week for the news to get onto the campus grapevine but once it did it was explosive. Stephen Hart was dead. Professor Cutter had quit and was taking a sabbatical.
Connor's first thought was of Abby. She had fancied Stephen. She would be upset. He called Wellington Zoo to try to get contact details for her, but to no avail. That weekend he visited the zoo hoping to see her to be told that she was no longer an employee. He went to her flat but there was no answer. All he could do was push a note through the door. It read 'I'm sorry. Call me if you need me.' And his mobile number. She never called.
On Monday, reports began to circulate of mysterious deaths in a factory not far from the Underground tunnels. Members of staff had been bitten by some unknown creature and had rapidly succumbed to the venom. Then all further news stopped. Connor suspected Claudia's involvement. Tom and Duncan whispered of cover-ups and Government conspiracies. Connor just walked away and kept his thoughts to himself.
He had tried to leave this alone, tried to get it out of his head but it wasn't happening, it was just too big, too important.
His stupid behaviour followed by news of Stephen's death had been a major wake-up call for Connor. He finally realised he had some serious growing up to do. It wasn't that he was immature, he just preferred to be a big kid. It was easier. Having a laugh, no responsibility, no-one expecting you to be a grown-up because you never acted like one. Well that was all going to change.
By Friday, Connor had quit university and moved out of his student digs. He'd sold his game stations on ebay. His games collection had made a reasonable amount. His comic and Star Wars memorabilia collections were sold to a comic shop for a bit less than their market value, but still quite a decent price.
Having liquidated as many of his meagre assets as he could, he had some working capital and so few possessions he could travel light. Tom and Duncan had tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't be swayed. He went to Abby's and left another note. 'I'm not leaving this alone. I NEED to help. Call me.' And again, his mobile number.
He made his way to the factory mentioned in the news reports, but it was cordoned off. He tried to catch sight of a face he recognised, but couldn't get close enough to see.
Next he went to the Home Office building he'd visited with Cutter where he knew James Lester was located. Walking up to reception he demanded to be taken to see him. At first the receptionist denied that a James Lester worked in the building or that there was any record of him.
"You'd better get him or Claudia Brown down here quick. Just say 'anomalies' to him."
Thirty minutes later he was sitting facing James Lester, who did not look best pleased.
"Pull a stunt like that again and you will be imprisoned as a traitor under the Official Secrets Act before you can say Scooby Doo."
"I need to see the Professor or Abby. Please, I can be useful and I want to help. Especially after what happened to Stephen. I need to be a part of this. My knowledge will be useful."
"I'd have thought any semi-computer-literate oik could do what you do. And as for your database, I think we'll just copy it and maintain it ourselves. We don't need you, especially not now."
Connor blanched "What do you mean not now?"
"I mean now that Abigail Maitland is dead and Professor Cutter is missing."
"Abby dead? How?" Connor could feel tears beginning to sting his eyes. He hadn't known her long, but the feeling he had for her had been so strong, so overwhelming. She couldn't be dead.
"I believe Cutter called it a …" Lester referred to a document on his desk "yes, a Mosasaur. It came through an anomaly submerged in a reservoir and attacked her whilst she was gathering water samples."
"Why was she unprotected? How did this happen?" Connor was in danger of unravelling.
"The soldier was on the shore, but the creature got to her before he could fire. I'm sorry, I didn't think you knew her that well?"
"I, I didn't but we were becoming friends. Has someone been to her flat? She kept reptiles and they will need taking care of."
"Oh, right. I'll get my secretary on to that right away."
"And Cutter, where's the Professor?"
"He went through the anomaly after his wife. I sent soldiers when he didn't return, but they were long gone."
"And what about the creature at the factory, the one that killed Stephen?"
"Ahh yes, the Arthropleura."
"What? No it can't have been. There was no indication in the fossil record that they were anything other than timid vegetarians."
"Well, someone should have told this one. It killed at least eight people including Stephen Hart and one of Ryan's men before we managed to contain it."
"Did you send it back through the anomaly?"
"Of course not. We now operate a strict shoot-to-kill policy on all creature incursions."
"No you can't do that!" Connor leapt from his chair sending it spilling backwards across the office. "The Professor theorised that if we didn't send as many of these creatures back through as possible we risked damaging the natural flow of evolution and even the time line itself. We could literally cease to exist!"
"Really? Lester paused and considered this. The Minister would be seriously displeased if his favourite mistress suddenly ceased to be. Was this an unfounded theory or could there be a possibility of truth to it? After a few moments consideration he spoke. "Very well. I'll discuss this with the Minister. In the mean-time I'm taking you on a six month trial only because you're the only person left who was there at the start and seems to have any understanding of the science of this. I am actively recruiting a new palaeontologist to replace Cutter, but obviously he will need to be brought up to speed. You will report directly to Claudia Brown who has taken over co-ordination of the project until her replacement is fully appraised of the situation. You WILL obey every order Captain Ryan gives you, or you will be shot. Understood?"
"Understood."
-0-0-0-
FIVE YEARS LATER
The anomaly project was still under way. It was now a private-public partnership with billionaire entrepreneur and scientist Philip Burton through his company, Prospero.
Connor still worked on the anomaly project but was now in research and development having lost a leg to a raptor in a shopping centre quite early on. He had married his physiotherapist, a petite blonde, but the marriage had only lasted a year. Calling her "Abby" in the throes of passion tends to annoy your wife. To this day he doesn't know why it happened.
Connor was off work for six months recuperating after the amputation and it took him over a year to discover the distinct interference pattern of the anomalies to allow them to be tracked. They discovered how to lock them the following year when one opened around an electricity pylon, locking immediately but blacking out half of Yorkshire.
By this time the secret of anomalies was well and truly out. There had been too much loss of life and too many creature incursions to keep it a secret any longer. The rescinding of the shoot-to-kill policy on the creatures had been debated in the House of Commons several times, but in the end the logic of sending the animals back whenever possible had prevailed. Apart from anything else, the cost of disposing of large quantities of dinosaur carcasses would have been unworkable. Being unable to track or lock the anomalies for so long had caused mayhem, but once the basics were known, the data came in thick and fast. At Burton's behest, Prospero money had enabled the development of advanced data gathering equipment which helped Connor no end. With the focus afforded Connor by not being in the field, he quickly began to gain a far deeper understanding of the phenomenon – deeper than even Burton knew.
Burton kept trying to persuade Connor to work for him with flattery, temptations and inducements. He had even assigned Connor a petite blonde assistant called April Leonard, but even she had failed to seduce him. Connor suspected Burton had something far more mercenary and considerably less altruistic in mind, so he had hacked the Prospero files and seen the plans for New Dawn. He realised the danger of what Burton planned and point-blank refused to have anything to do with it. He also strongly recommended to the Minister that any development in New Dawn be stopped – the risks far outweighed any benefits. The Minister already had a healthy dislike for Philip Burton, so anything that prevented him having further leverage with the Government was to be seriously considered.
Connor's work on anomalies and his position as the acknowledged expert afforded him more sway with the Minister than would normally be expected, and with Lester backing him, New Dawn was shut down.
Three months later, Burton was caught progressing his plan in secret. His sudden and inexplicable resignation from Prospero and his donation of the company and its assets to the newly formed Anomaly Research Centre was a major shock to the scientific community. The reports said Burton had discovered religion, had eschewed all worldly possessions and left on a retreat for meditation and contemplation. He was actually imprisoned in a top secret maximum security prison on charges of high treason. Philip had been a very naughty boy.
Captain Ryan had been promoted and was now at the Ministry of Defence. A Captain Becker had taken over as head of security at the ARC. Claudia Brown returned to the Home Office where she rose successfully through the ranks of civil service bureaucracy. Sir James Lester remained as head of the ARC reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
Tom and Duncan had started a highly lucrative website buying and selling memorabilia and comics to the sci-fi and fantasy community. Connor occasionally met up with them for a beer, but rarely stayed long. He still found being with them unnerving and it stirred up too many memories. Anyway, he found the debates about the temporal theories behind Dr Who and who would win in a fight between Wolverine and Spiderman quite childish. He knew far more about temporal science than anyone else on the planet and had his reptiles to look after. He had his share of girlfriends, but always had an image in his mind of a petite blonde with spikey hair and a pink polka dot scarf. The girlfriends never lasted long.
Professor Nick Cutter never came home.
-0-0-0-
There was great excitement in the archaeological community when two human skeletons were found in sedimentary layers set down in the late Cretaceous era. Of course, the ARC quickly covered up the story with inducements and bribes for those involved. The remains were brought in for closer examination. It appeared to be a male and female. For all the world it appeared the male had a knife in his ribs, courtesy of the female, and he appeared to have his hands round her throat.
It seemed as though Nick and Helen Cutter had finally resolved their differences.
THE END