PRIMEVAL – THE RETURN
Chapter 1
Danny Quinn slumped down on the ground. The realisation of being trapped four million years from home still made his head swim.
"Come on Danny," he said to himself, regaining some of his composure. "You've been in worse situations," he added, crawling into the shade and leaning against a large rock. He looked up at the clear blue sky and started to laugh. "Can't think of any just at this moment though," he sighed, opening his backpack and taking out a bottle of water. He looked at the place where the anomaly had been. "Should I stay here and hope the anomaly reopens?" he asked himself. "Or should." He stopped and hit his head with his knuckles. "Danny, you're an idiot," he shouted, shoving the bottle of water back into his backpack and standing up. "Helen's got the device," he added. He collected a few large rocks and built a marker to identify the anomaly site then set off back to the place where Helen's body lay under the raptor. "I can use the device to get back to where Connor and Abby are," he said, marking the trail as he went.
"Better not turn over," said Connor Temple, looking down into the blackness of the Cretaceous night from the nest he was sharing with Abby Maitland, high up in a tree.
"What?" Abby muttered sleepily.
"I was just thinking out loud," Connor replied. "It's a long way down," he added, flicking a small stick into the darkness.
"Just go to sleep," sighed Abby. "We need the rest. I think tomorrow might be a long day."
Connor sighed and moved slightly trying to ease his aching body. 'Idiot,' he thought. 'Becker warned us about those stun grenades, and what did I do?' Connor moved again, trying not to disturb Abby. 'She must think I'm a right nerd,' he thought, looking at Abby. He could just make out Abby's face, illuminated by the soft light of the stars. Connor smiled as he remembered their kiss on the day they'd saved her brother. 'Jack was a bit of an idiot,' thought Connor. 'And I had to move out of the flat so he could stay there, but it was through him I got to kiss Abby.' Connor moved again and let out a shout as a pain shot up his leg.
"What?" said Abby, sitting up.
"Sorry," Connor replied, giving Abby a weak smile. "I just caught my ankle."
"Does it hurt a lot?" asked Abby, looking at Connor's foot.
"Like I said before," Connor replied. "It's either broken or a really bad sprain. Getting up here didn't help."
Abby nodded. "At least we're safe from those raptors up here," she said, gently stroking Connor's leg.
"You did mean it?" Connor asked, putting his hand on Abby's leg.
"Mean what?" Abby replied.
"About me, you know," Connor stammered. "Coming back to the flat."
"Yeh," smiled Abby. "Of course." Although it had been good to see her brother again, Abby was glad he'd gone. It had become rather complicated, what with Jack gambling away Rex and also finding out about the anomalies. 'Besides,' she thought, glancing at Connor. 'I got used to Connor being around.' She too thought of their kiss and smiled. 'Not the nerd I thought he was at first,' she thought.
A loud raucous screech made them both jump, bringing them back to the reality of their situation.
"If we ever get back home," Abby added quietly.
"We will," Connor replied, patting Abby's leg reassuringly. "We've got out of tighter spots than this."
"I wonder how Danny's getting on," said Abby, looking up at the star filled sky. "I wonder if he's caught up with Helen."
Connor shrugged. "She's dangerous," he said. "The way she shot Cutter in cold blood."
"Try not to think about it," said Abby, feeling a shiver run down Connor's leg.
"You don't think using the anomalies so many times affected her mind, do you?" asked Connor.
Abby shrugged. "Who knows," she replied. "But somewhere along the way she definitely lost the plot."
"At least we're still here," Connor added. "So she can't have done anything yet."
"Come on," said Abby, carefully lying back down. "Try and get some rest."
Connor rested his back against the trunk of the tree, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"So what's your plan?" asked Captain Becker, as he drove Sarah Page back to the ARC.
Sarah shook her head. "It's only an idea," she replied. "And even then, only a tenuous one."
"OK," replied Becker. "So?"
"Helen used some type of device to open an anomaly to stop those rhino things from trampling us, yes," said Sarah.
Becker nodded.
"Then she closed it again," Sarah added.
Becker looked a little puzzled.
Sarah sighed. "Don't you see," she continued. "She had to be in the right place to do it."
Becker nodded. "That's why she waited until the last moment," he said.
"Doors," said Sarah. "That's what Cutter could see, that's what he was plotting on his 3D model."
"So they aren't just random occurrences," put in Becker.
Sarah shook her head. "No, the doors are there, unseen until they open. You know, like secret doors in old houses. Archaeologists are always looking for secret doors in burial chambers."
"OK," Becker interrupted. "But how does this help us?"
"When I was looking through Helen's note book, I noticed some of the pages contained lists of numbers," Sarah explained. "At first I thought it was part of some code she'd devised."
Becker stopped in the garage of the ARC.
"Now," Sarah continued, as they hurried to her lab. "I'm wondering if they are coordinates."
"Like reference coordinates on a map," put in Becker.
"Exactly," said Sarah, as she went into her lab.
"The prodigal returns," said James Lester, as he walked into Sarah's lab. "Perhaps someone would be good enough to enlighten me."
"Sorry sir," said Becker. "Doctor Page needed to see Helen Cutter's note book."
"Oh?" questioned Lester. "Nothing better to do?"
Sarah gave a sigh and shot Lester an angry glance.
"We may be on to something," said Becker. "Or at least Doctor Page is," he added, explaining to Lester what Sarah was doing.
"I need to use the anomaly detector," said Sarah, hurrying from the lab.
"Fine, don't mind me," sighed Lester. "I'm only in charge," he added, following Sarah down the corridor.
Danny stopped for a drink. "It's certainly hot," he said, finding some shade. "Not like England in summer," he added, setting off again. 'Of course in this heat,' he thought, recalling some of the dead bodies he'd seen in his time as a police officer. 'Find the device and leave quickly,' he thought as he neared the site.
Danny took a deep breath and hurried over to Helen's body. He pushed the raptor off Helen's body and quickly checked her pockets.
"Where is it?" said Danny, double checking Helen's pockets. "It's got to be here somewhere," he added. "This might come in handy," he said, finding Helen's knife and slipping it into his pocket. "Her bag," sighed Danny. "What happened to her bag?"
Danny got up and checked the area. "Oh great," he sighed, looking up at the ledge from where Helen and the raptor had fallen. "She took it off up there," he added, walking to the rock face. "Doesn't look too bad," he said, as he started to climb.
Danny dragged himself onto the ledge and lay panting as sweat ran down his face. "What I wouldn't give for a shower," he said, standing up. He looked around and smiled as he saw Helen's backpack lying beside a large bolder. Danny picked up the backpack and sat down. "Now," he said, opening the backpack. "Where's the device."
Danny rummaged through Helen's backpack. "It must be here," he said, tipping everything out of the backpack. "She had it before she came here," he added, opening the pockets in the backpack. He gave an angry yell as he threw the backpack on the ground. "It's not here," he yelled, getting up and running to the edge of the ledge. "What did you do with it?" he shouted, looking down at Helen's body. "You can't be trusted even when you're dead."
"I thought so," said Sarah, sitting at the anomaly detector console.
Lester looked at the screens. "You do realise that anomalies could be opening and we wouldn't be able to detect them?" he asked, as he looked over Sarah's shoulder.
"I'm more bothered about Danny and the others," Sarah replied. "We need to find them."
"Just because they're late," said Lester. "It doesn't mean they're lost."
"They could be," started Becker.
Sarah turned and gave Becker a hard stare. She too had wondered if Danny, Connor and Abby were lying dead somewhere in time, but she'd pushed it from her mind. "Don't even think it," she said sharply. "They'll be back, they promised."
"Well, that's a load off my mind," Lester said dryly, as he headed back to his office.
Sarah looked at Becker. Deep down she knew that it was becoming more of a possibility. She knew what the future predators could do, and she'd almost been killed by the giant insects from the future. Once again she pushed the thought from her mind. 'No,' she thought. 'They're going to be fine. I know they are.'
Becker sat down next to Sarah. "Even if we do know where these anomalies are, what good is it?"
Sarah sat back and pushed her dark hair back, holding it behind her head. "I wondered when you'd ask that," she sighed.
"We have no way of opening the anomalies," Becker went on. "All we can do is wait for one to open and hope it leads to where we want to be."
Sarah slumped back in her chair. "I've got to do something," she said, turning to look at Becker, her eyes glistening with tears. "I should have gone with them."
Becker shook his head. "Danny was right," he said, putting his hand on Sarah's shoulder. "We had to check out the anomaly at Johnson's place, just in case it was Helen."
Sarah nodded. "I just feel so useless," she said, banging her hands on the table. "If only Connor was here, he might come up with." Her voice trailed off as she remembered what Connor had told her not long after she'd joined the team.
"What?" asked Becker, seeing the spark of an idea in Sarah's expression.
"Come on," said Sarah, getting up and heading for the door.
Becker ran to catch up to Sarah. "Now what?" he asked, as they hurried to Connor's lab.
"Just look at the state of this place," sighed Sarah, going into Connor's lab. "What a mess."
"What do you expect," laughed Becker. "He wouldn't last five minutes in the forces," he added, kicking a pair of boxer shorts to one side.
"It was after Connor made the locking device for the anomalies," said Sarah, hunting through sheets of paper strewn on a desk. "He said it might be possible."
"What might be possible?" asked Becker, following Sarah around the room.
Sarah stopped her search and looked at Becker. "Connor said that it might be possible to use the locking device to open anomalies."
Becker raised an eyebrow. "He never mentioned it to me," he said. "Or to Lester."
"I don't think he told anyone," Sarah replied, returning to her search. "You know Connor."
"Yes," smiled Becker. "Tries to pretend he's a genius, when half the time it's guess work and luck."
"He just needs to be focused," said Sarah. "And organized," she added with a sigh, as a stack of papers went scattering on the floor. "I only found out what he was doing because he let it slip one day."
Becker bent down to pick up some of the papers. "This wouldn't be what you're looking for?" he asked, picking up a sheet of paper with various drawings on it.
Sarah moved over to Becker. "That's it," she said excitedly, grabbing the paper. "These are the drawings he was working on the day he told me."
"You're welcome," smiled Becker.
Sarah was lost in the drawings on the paper. "No," she said, shaking her head. "This is only part of it."
Becker knelt down and rummaged through the papers. "Here's some more," he said, picking up a few more sheets and handing them to Sarah.
Sarah looked at the papers and nodded. "Yes," she said. "It looks like he was close to an answer," she added, heading back to her own lab.
"Anything else I can do?" asked Becker, following Sarah into her lab.
"I could use a coffee," said Sarah, sitting down at her desk and studying the papers.
"Reduced to tea boy," sighed Becker, as he turned and left Sarah's lab.