Bad Moon on the Right
Captain Becker was uneasy. This building had housed numerous deadly anomalies, more than any other multi-anomaly site to date. Several months earlier, three key members of the ARC's primary response team had gone through an anomaly at this site and none had returned.
"This is where they went through," Sarah insisted. "No matter what the anomaly leads to now, it's the logical place to start. Helen could create her own anomalies. Why would she have needed this specific one? How could she have known it would lead to the exact right spot at the exact right era? We have to go through every time an anomaly opens in here."
"For all we know, she created the original anomaly we found here just so she could go through it to that exact right spot in the exact right era," Becker pointed out.
"But what if she didn't?" Sarah insisted. "What if it is related to this location, in our time? Becker, it's a good theory, you know it is, and we have got to try!"
Becker wanted to say something, anything, to change her mind, but found it impossible to quash her enthusiasm. In the months before their missing team members had gone though this anomaly in pursuit of Helen Cutter he had been growing exceptionally fond of Sarah. In the weeks since Abby, Connor, and Danny had disappeared into the past, his fondness had grown.
Captain Becker saw himself as a kind of steel man. He was proud of his ability to remain dispassionate and calm in almost any circumstance. But every time he looked at Sarah Page he felt his inner steel bend a little. He had started viewing his emotional state as made of aluminum, but then realized his handle on metaphors was amateurish. He accepted that he'd always had a soft spot in his heart for Sarah, and that the loss of so much of the team had shown him how little time the two of them probably had together. If, he reminded himself, she shared his feelings. He had not yet found a way to approach her on the subject.
Sarah seemed single-mindedly intent on finding the anomaly through which the three had disappeared. It wasn't in Becker's heart to stop her, but he was determined to keep her safe. So every time she went off in search of just the right anomaly, he made sure he was at her side, weapon at the ready.
They greeted the guard at the door. He seemed surprised to see them, but Captain Becker's men were used to surprising things. He raised a quizzical eyebrow and, receiving no explanation, unlocked the door and returned to his post.
There was a contained anomaly in the race track garage. No creatures had come through between the time the anomaly opened and the time it was locked down. It had only been a matter of minutes but it was enough time to reassure Sarah, if not Becker, that unlocking the anomaly was safe. She sat in front of the controls, while Becker stood facing the anomaly, weapon at the ready.
The glassy lights of the anomaly grew and it opened with a soft whooshing noise. Becker and Sarah each waited a few seconds. When nothing appeared to have happened, she rose from the controls and walked towards it.
"I'm going in. I promise I'll stay right at the anomaly site and come back at the first sign of trouble." It was completely against all protocols for her to do this, but she had made it clear that she wanted to be the first through, and that she didn't believe she would need protecting from whatever she found in her first few moments.
She did this every time. Becker always tried to get in ahead of her but she was a determined lady and she was quick. She almost always beat him to the anomaly. This time was no different. He did manage to grab her elbow before they disappeared together into the unknown.
It was night. He switched on the flashlight attached to his gun-sight, and nearly tripped over Sarah. She was standing, staring up at the sky. She gasped when the light hit her, and shielded her eyes as she turned around.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's just so beautiful! I couldn't tear my eyes away. Look!" She pointed to the sky.
Whatever era they were in, the trees were not tall enough to block their view. The sky was a shade of fluorescent indigo. Becker gazed in confusion. A few seconds later he realized he was seeing the stars, more stars than he had ever seen before. They lit the sky. Off towards the horizon he could see the moon starting to come into view. He turned to look at Sarah. Her face was childlike, her loose hair blowing in the cool breeze. Becker's emotions stirred his heart and he had a sudden urge to kiss her smiling mouth. He almost lowered his weapon to the ground to do just that, but his training kicked in.
"It is beautiful," he agreed. "And I hate to take you away from it, but it's not safe here. We don't know when or where this is, and in the dark we can't even try to look for them. Come back, Sarah. We can try again in a half day or so, when it's daylight here. If this anomaly is still around."
He took her arm gently. At first she resisted, but his words must have sunk in finally because she turned and walked with him towards the anomaly. Just before they stepped through together, she looked up again. "What a gorgeous sight," she whispered, almost reverentially. "Unspoiled sky, and moonlight so crystal bright I could see it as a jewel." With a sigh, she turned back and the two went through.
When they returned to the ARC, it was already time for Sarah to head home for the evening. She was chatting cheerfully with the evening shift and seemed extremely happy, moreso even than usual. And that, Becker mused, was saying a lot. As she sailed past him on her way out she was wearing a dazzling smile, and he was seized by a sudden foreboding.
"Uh, Sarah," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Are you doing anything this evening? I mean, anything special?"
The look she gave him was indecipherable but she stopped and looked at him. "Why?" she asked, sounding curious.
"I was just thinking…I mean…I would love to buy you an after work drink and maybe we could have dinner or…or something…" His hesitation was not deliberate. His mouth had started moving before he knew what he was doing or even why. He stopped speaking, fearful that his dry mouth would fail him and send the calm and proudly imperturbable Captain Becker racing from the room.
She smiled and something in her eyes softened. "Oh, that would be wonderful, it really would. But not tonight. I have some personal research I want to get after and it's time sensitive." She leaned over and kissed him just on the cheek, almost on his mouth. "Friday," she suggested. "Let's plan for Friday."
He resisted the urge to grab her. He watched her leave the ARC and was rewarded by seeing the increased bounce in her step. She had turned him down, yes, and he couldn't think of any other way to stop the gnawing concern creeping up his spine. But his offer had been accepted, just delayed. She seemed to genuinely like him, to the extent on going out on a date with him. He smiled to himself, then saw Lester frowning at him. "What?" he asked.
"What was that all about?" Lester asked, then he quickly added, "No, don't tell me. I don't want to know. Do you think Sarah is up to something?"
Becker nodded slowly and Lester continued, "She's always annoyingly energetic but this afternoon she was downright chirping and that cannot be normal. Not even for her. Follow her, or have one of your men follow her. I can't have dreamers going rogue on us."
Becker called over two of his men from the evening duty roster and they headed out in the direction of Sarah's home. Part of the way there, he realized what had caused his concern. He had told her to wait twelve hours, but patience was not one of Sarah's virtues and enough time had passed that it was undoubtedly sunrise in the world through the anomaly. He tapped the driver and told him to change direction.
Her car was, as he had expected, parked outside the race track anomaly site. The door was closed, but the guard was not at his post. Becker cursed quietly under his breath and was out of the car even while the driver was still setting the brake. His men raced inside behind him.
The first thing he noticed was the open anomaly. The second thing he noticed was the relatively small Gojirasaurus, only four meters long, with a human leg hanging from its mouth. The third thing he noticed was one of the men who had been left to guard the site, dead on the floor and missing a leg. All three men turned their high powered rifles on the dinosaur and managed to bring it down without losing any more lives. Grabbing its legs, two of the men dragged the creature back into the anomaly. Becker walked ahead of them, weapon at the ready.
It was dawn now, the sun barely clearing the horizon to the east. When he first scanned the area he saw no sign of Sarah. He was briefly hopeful that she was somewhere hiding in the garage, or possibly hadn't made it that far in the first place. Maybe she had run when she heard the noise from inside the garage.
He knew this was wishful thinking but he couldn't help hoping. He turned slowly, looking for footprints or any sign that Sarah had been there.
That was when he saw the blood trail.
One of his men cried, "Over here," and Becker ran.
She had pulled herself behind a scraggy bush. It must have cost her some of her last dregs of energy, but at least she had had the presence of mind to try to hide in case the momentarily distracted dinosaur tried to come back to her. It wouldn't have helped, he knew, but she had tried and that made him proud of her.
Her eyes were open and moving wildly. Blood was gushing from wounds in her arm and chest. She had dodged well enough to avoid an immediately fatal wound, but she was beyond basic field medicine. There was nothing to be done now.
If he had only been there ten minutes earlier. If he had only thought to have medics come with him. He knelt beside her head and heard her gasping, trying to whisper. He leaned close to her and said, "Hush, save your strength. I'm going to see about getting you out."
"Don't be silly," Sarah hissed. "I won't last another minute and a half. I knew it the moment that bastard tried to pull my arm off."
"I'm sorry," he said. There was a catch in his voice that got her attention more than his words did.
"It's not your fault," she told him. "I did everything I could to keep you from coming with me. I wanted to see the unspoiled world again and didn't want you to be able to pull me out of it."
"But…"
"Shhhh," she whispered. "I'm the one who's sorry. I just wish we'd had that date first. It would have been…" With a rattling sound she hissed out a breath and her eyes stopped moving.
He took a deep, steadying breath. This was not the right time to mourn. He stood and started organizing his men to carry her body safely out so they could lock the anomaly.
No one, he resolved, was going to go through an anomaly again, not without proper training and weaponry. He had lost his friends, and now he had lost Sarah. He wouldn't lose anyone else to this kind of foolishness.
No matter how jewel bright the moon.