So this is my very first story. Please let me know, what you think about it. Thank you for reading this.
A big, big thank you goes to the lovely YouHaveLovelyHair for beta-reading this!
Chapter 1
The room was dark and only sparsely furnished. A table and chair in the centre, and old chest of drawers next to the door and a bed shoved up against the wall. All the pieces of furniture were second hand and did not match. Yet they were impeccably clean. The bed was neatly made and there was not a single grain of dust in the entire room. There was no carpet, no curtains. Nothing to make the room appear cosy. The walls showed signs of humidity. A small window near the ceiling let in what little light the late afternoon had to offer.
Someone sat at the table in front of a laptop, slightly hunched over. After a few keys were pressed, a video started playing. It showed a young woman in a coral blouse. She wore her hair tied back in a neat bun and pink flower earrings. She was sitting at a desk, smiling. There was a man present in the room who asked her a question: "Why do you think you got so far in this selection process, Miss Parker?"
Jess slightly drew herself up to a more straight position and smiled confidently: "Why? Because I am the best team coordinator you are going to find."
The video froze right there. "You are going to pay for this, bitch!" the figure in front of the laptop hissed in a low voice, full of venom.
oOo
"Nemicolopterus!"
"Connor, honestly, I don't care! I just spent the better part of my afternoon chasing this bloody...""Nemicolopterus!" Connor repeated with a grin. "...fine!" Becker rolled his eyes. "Next time you go and...just a second."
Becker pulled the black ARC-vehicle onto the kerb and jumped out of it.
"Where are you going mate?" Connor stretched in the passenger's seat and turned his head. He had just seen Becker disappear through the doors of a little shop. Connor grinned again. No doubt, the Captain was buying some chocolate bars right now for their field coordinator.
oOo
After a very slow and quiet morning, there were two alerts at the ARC in short succession. Just when everybody was ready to leave for lunch. When the alarm blasted for the first time, Jess sighed, turned around and rushed back to the ADD, instead of heading over to the menagerie to share her lunch break with Abby. She was barely back on her chair, when the alert went OFF again to indicate a second anomaly. Jess remained calm and focussed. It was not the first time she handled the coordination of two field teams simultaneously.
The first anomaly took place at the British Dental Museum. Although there was no incursion on site, and the anomaly itself occurred in the tiny office of the museum's curator, there was a rather large group of elderly German tourists wondering why there were armed men showing up all of a sudden. Matt tried in vain to calm the excited and somewhat scared group of tourists. They simply did not understand a word of what he said. They did not speak English, none of them. When Matt realised what was going on, he put his phone on loudspeaker and let Jess explain to them in German, that a boa constrictor was on the loose and that the men were armed with tranquilliser guns to stun and catch it. And if they all could leave the building now in an orderly fashion, bitte schön.
Once the Germans had sufficiently calmed down and were ready to leave the building, Jess immediately switched monitors and guided Connor, Becker and his men through Hyde Park, to the southern end of the Serpentine. When Becker and Connor arrived there, they found the golden light of the anomaly shining between the yellow leaves of the park's trees near the water. The rowing boats had already been tucked away as were the deck chairs. Only very few people frequented the paths, mostly joggers who braved the rain of an early November day. Becker and Connor carefully approached the open anomaly. The incursion consisted of a dozen rather small creatures sitting on the branches of the nearby trees. They had beautiful green and blue wings and a red beak. One of them took off and landed on a park bench.
"Connor, how do we get those back through were they came from? One false move and they fly off into central London!" Connor pondered the situation for a moment. "These creatures are from the early Cretaceous. They are Nomicoloptera, harmless little tree dwellers. They subsist on insects...Jess, any idea were we find a sufficient amount of insects quickly?"
Jess tapped into the CCTV feed and pulled up the images from Hyde Park. "I have spotted an angler sitting further up the Serpentine, about 300 yards away from your current position. From what I can see, he is fishing with live bait."
Becker lifted an eye brow and smirked. Then he turned around slowly so the flock of Nemicoloptera would not get agitated. He told one of his soldiers to get the live bait from the angler. Once they got the box containing the worms, Connor took one out, slowly walked towards the anomaly and gently placed the worm on the grass. Then he stepped back. The Nemicoloptera were watching him closely. They seemed to be quite curious about their new whereabouts and checked out every detail of their environment. Finally, one of them flew down, stretched its neck and prodded the worm with its beak. Apparently, it liked what it saw and quickly ate the worm. Then it looked back at Connor. This time, Connor threw a worm towards the Nemicolopterus on the ground. It landed next to it and the little creature moved in to eat another of those seemingly delicious treats. Only to find one of the other Nemicoloptera rushing down and snatching the worm off the ground right in front of it. Connor grabbed a handful of worms and threw them again. This time, all the Nemicoloptera participated in the feeding. Becker smirked again. The whole scene looked quite surreal. Connor at the park, feeding little dinosaurs instead of pigeons.
"OK, Becker, get ready to close the anomaly. I will throw the next fistful of worms through the opening and hopefully, they will all follow." As soon as Becker signalled that he was ready, Connor launched a handful of worms through the anomaly and the entire swarm excitedly followed and disappeared through the shining portal. Becker immediately closed the anomaly and rubbed his neck. Then he froze.
"Damn, Connor, one of them is still here!" Adamant to check out Hyde Park, one of the winged dinosaurs took off from the bench and flew towards the southern end of the park. Becker and Connor both sprinted after it, cursing under their breath. The Nemicolopterus soared elegantly out of the park and traversed the nearby streets, still followed by Becker, Connor and the group of soldiers
When the dinosaur finally landed, it sat on the gate of the French embassy. "Oh no! You will not go in there" Becker said in a low tone of voice. "Connor, once it gets inside, we can't follow it. Do you still have some worms left?" "Here mate." Becker took the remaining worms, placed them on his open palm and slowly approached the little Nemicolopterus. "Come on, little one, be a good boy and come here." The dinosaur spread its colourful wings and launched itself towards the Captain, but instead of landing on his palm, it opted for his head and landed on Becker's impeccably combed hair where his claws got entangled. Becker hissed in surprise, but held very still. Eventually, Connor was able to get the Nemicolopterus out of Becker's hair and put it in a box that one of the soldiers handed him.