Chapter Two: Conspiracy Theories

A/N: Well, MOST of it changed...

Disclaimer: No. I'm afraid not.

Stephen Hart lay on the floor, his leg bleeding from various bite marks. His head snapped up at the sound of his name - he stared at Connor in a mixture of recognition and incredulity, then shook his head. He murmured to the boy, who turned to Connor and inspected him curiously.

"You're Connor?" he said it more of a statement than a question. "Wow. Stephen's told me all about you."

"Luke - now is really not the time..." Stephen had picked himself up and was leaning on Becker for support. "Connor? What - what year is it?"

"Three years after you died," Connor narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and Stephen winced. Not out of pain.

"Oh."

"So, you didn't die?"

"Err... no; Helen, well, saved me. She wanted to travel through anomalies with me. But I declined," Stephen added hurriedly. "She was... angry, so she abandoned me in the Jurassic Period. I've spent 3 years looking for you, and now... I finally found you!"

"How did you know where the anomalies were?"

Stephen showed Connor an anomaly detector, smiling. "I make a surprisingly good pickpocket."

"Um, excuse me," Matt waved a hand. "What the hell is going on here? Great reunion, yes, but - who the hell are you?"

"Oh, right: this is Stephen. Stephen, meet Matt and Becker. They're part of the team now, after..." Connor trailed off, staring at the floor, shuffling his feet nervously. Stephen's eyes widened.

"What happened? Connor, what happened?"

"Cutter... Cutter is -" Connor breathed in, finally looking Stephen in the eye. "He's dead. Along with Sarah and Danny, who joined after you... after you died. You died, Stephen..."

The boy, Luke, cut in. "I know this is a lot to take in, but can we get back to the ARC first?" The mention of the ARC caught Matt off guard, and he frowned at Luke. "Please? I mean, with two injured people, I don't really think we can hang around too long."

The jet-black car sped down the motorway, the occupants talking animatedly. Connor had explained to Stephen all that had happened since Stephen had "died", including the renovations of the ARC. Stephen had then in turn told Connor about his adventures: after Helen had locked him in one dimension, he stole her anomaly opener and travelled through anomalies.

He had met Luke whilst on his travels - he had been trapped after going through an anomaly into the Jurassic period, and Stephen had saved him from a raptor similar to the one they had found. When Connor asked where Luke came from in the human world, an awkward silence ensued and he had a slight suspicion that Stephen and Luke were lying.

"So, that's how we got here," Stephen finished. "Anyway, who's the boy?"

"He lives in the house. The raptor bit him, but we think he was already ill. His only biological parent is now dead, so we can't just take him to hospital," Becker explained, motioning to the prone body in the back seat. "We won't know how much he knows until he wakes up."

Luke was watching Taylor inquisitively out of the corner of his eye, looking him up and down but mainly focusing on his face. He turned at the last sentence and smiled.

"You sound like a secret agent in a big conspiracy, you know that?"

They all laughed, and it seemed to take a weight off their shoulders.

"Hey Jess," said Becker as he entered the hub, Connor, Luke and Stephen following. Luke waved cheerily, glancing around at the machinery and clearly impressed. He stopped behind Jess' station next to Becker and peered over her shoulder at all the controls.

"Wow, I finally get to see all of this," he watched carefully as Jess tapped lightly on the keyboard, bringing up a huge map of Britain on two of the six plasma screens in front of them, and gazed up at the numerous readings scrolling across the remaining four. "Can you show me how it works?"

Jess smiled amicably. "Of course - but I must warn you, it's complicated."

"Oh, I'm sure I can figure it out." At this, her smile turned wicked.

"Really now?"

Stephen chuckled as she began explaining seriously complex equations and coding sequences, turning to Becker who looked just as bemused.

"So, you must be Captain Becker. Have you ever done any animal tracking?"

Three days later, Taylor Walker woke up in hospital. A young boy about his age was sat by the bed, watching him with curiosity. His curly brown hair fell into his eyes, and he tilted his head to one side when he noticed he was awake.

"Hi." he smiled gently.

Taylor nodded weakly, attempting to sit up. He winced as pain shot through his shoulder, but still sat up anyway. The other boy looked concerned.

"Are you alright?"

Taylor nodded again, laying his head back on the pillow as he waited for the pain to dull.

"So... where am I? What happened?" he suddenly remembered the raptor. "The raptor... is - is it real?"

"Yup. It came from the past, through an anomaly," Luke explained. "Basically rips in time and space; they can lead to the past, the future, wherever and whenever."

"Right." More like animatronics, he thought with a raised eyebrow. "Wait - dad was there: what... where is he?" Taylor was suddenly worried. Where was he? Was he... no, of course not. He couldn't think like that. Of course his father was okay: nothing bad could have -

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Luke stared at the floor instead, shifting uncomfortably on the seat. Taylor's worst fears were awoken again, and he grabbed Luke's arm in fear.

"What happened? Tell me."

"He... I'm so sorry, Taylor, he... I don't know what to say..."

"No. No..." Taylor gave a choked sob and squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking out of the corners and sliding down his cheeks as he mourned for his father. Luke shook his head sadly and left the room as unobtrusively as possible.