The Other Way
Chapter 6
"So," Connor said in a rather self-important way, "the Haast's eagle. The biggest and heaviest flying bird ever seen in the world. It probably appeared around 5 thousand years ago B.C, vanished in the fourteen-hundreds of the last millennium. It preyed upon flightless birds of New Zealand, even bigger and heavier than it was, and it may have hunted the Maoris when they first came here."
"Aha," Becker nodded sagely as he heard Connor babble over the walkie-talkie. "Now how do we lure it into range?"
"Into what?"
"Range. The tranquilizer guns have a limited range, and Sarah here suggests that any really big bird tends to fly really high, probably beyond our reach. How do we bring it down?"
"First we must locate it, and then gain the high ground close to it, and then we lure it into shooting range," Stephen answered instead. "I and Nick did it once with a pteranodon, and it worked out fine."
"Where were we?" Connor asked despite his workings on the time anomaly manipulator.
"Dealing with the anurognathus swarm," Stephen answered curtly.
"Oh yeah, I forgot... Good times, good times – Abby and I almost got eaten," Connor sighed. "Think I should apologize to her?"
"What for? You have no relationship with Caroline, and as for the whole brain eating thing? Abby didn't really have the right to make it specifically personal – when it all comes down, it was I who got almost broken apart by that freak," Becker's voice sounded unusually bitter at the moment. "So, what right does she have to degrade it all down to her personal tragedy? She-"
"Becker, that's enough," Stephen interrupted the other man before the latter's temper could explode. "Let's just find the bird and bring it down. As a bird of prey, it probably isn't the smartest bundle of feathers that ever flown the skies – we should have no problem taking care of it once it's located. Let's go."
* * *
"So, Helen, who's Nemesis?" James Lester began, when Lorraine interrupted him once again.
"Sir, before she left, Caroline Steele left you some cheesecake saying that you ought to eat in lieu of your tomorrow's visit to her parents – it will fortify you for that event. Shall I put it into a freezer?"
Jenny barely stifled her giggles at the look on Lester's face once he heard about cheesecake; Helen and Nick didn't bother.
"Yes, Lorraine, put it into the freezer," Lester said in a carefully controlled voice, "and please don't bother me about such matters again unless it's absolutely necessary... Now where were we?" he turned back to Helen Cutter.
"Let's see," Helen pantomimed a work of deep thought on her face. "I first ran into Melinoe and Iymrith in the Triassic – the Late Triassic, when the dinosaurs had almost supplanted the earlier dicynodonts. We quickly established that besides the usage of English as a common language we had little else in common, and so when we finally parted each other's company, we didn't willingly seek it out again. Yet, at that time, Melinoe mentioned that she had a big family, and Nemesis was one of the names that she used in that monologue of hers. Therefore, I assume that it's reasonable that she may've mentioned my name to this Nemesis, who had come at the nick of time to save Becker from dying due to massive physical damage. Next question?"
"How long did you knew about Johnson's little take-over plan?"
"As soon as her equipment had overridden yours," Helen said, then caught the look on Lester's face and settled down for a longer explanation. "Remember that I have my own detector?"
"Yes, and Connor really wants a look at it."
"Well, that's only a part of the equation," Helen said mirthlessly. "And the other part of it is precisely me.
* * *
"There, there it goes – the elusive Haast's eagle. Stronger than a speeding bullet, faster than a tall building, smarter than a locomotive-"
"Connor, shut up. You're not particularly funny at this moment," Caroline glared at her ex-boyfriend, "and you're interfering with my driving."
"Yes, well, maybe you should let Stephen do the driving then," Connor said stiffly. "He managed it fine in- when- what had happened, exactly?"
"That Nemesis entity removed my mothers' time-travelling ally from this time line," Caroline shrugged. "To be more precise, she has removed him from the present and past, thus changing the time line and its' reality completely-like."
Connor blinked. "That's a really big guess," he said slowly.
"Yes, well, I eat a lot of fish and that is why I am smart," Caroline said flatly as she stared ahead, following Becker's vehicle for a change. "But not so smart as to figure out as to how to outwit a giant killer bird. Any ideas?"
"I have an idea, I told you that already," Stephen growled out, "all we need is a lure... what's that?"
Far away in the sky a big black cross-like shape suddenly appeared – and it began to descend downwards at a high speed. Upon seeing it, Michael, the big Brazilian mastiff that Caroline took with her on missions, began to snarl quietly, but in an angry way.
"That's our bird!" Stephen shouted. "Go, go, go!"
The ARC cars roared off.
* * *
"Say what?" James Lester stared at Helen Cutter as if she was mentally ill, which she probably was.
"Well, you see," the anthropologist turned time traveller at least had the grace to be embarrassed, "some people are born... sensitive to the time anomalies: they can generally – no, vaguely - foresee when and where one of those holes will occur, and maybe even seek it out and go in," she paused. "Mind you, I speak from personal experience, from back then, from when I found my very first time anomaly..."
"Yes, let's speak about that time," Nick growled crossly.
Helen twisted in her seat, her facial expression shifting from meditative to angry as well. "Nick Cutter, I have cooked and cleaned, programmed the VCR so that you'd stare at my butt and have kept your papers in order. I have been the perfect wife, and you wouldn't even give me a cactus to care about while you were busy promoting your career. So don't give me any of your grievances – I can match them with my own!"
The two Cutters, soon to be ex-husband-and-wife, got off their seats, glaring heavily at each other, hands clenched, jaws locked, determination to go at each other hand and fist etched clearly on their brows. And then someone else intervened.
"Okay then!" Jenny Lewis said brightly. "I am so glad to see that we're taking our problems off the epic scale and down to more human-sized issues. Now let's settle back down and have the marriage counsellor speak, yes?"
"You realize that the purpose of marriage counselling is to preserve the marriage, not break it up?" for one of the very few instants in his life, James Lester spoke without truly thinking – and he was immediately punished for it, as the other three people just turned around towards him glaring and suggesting that he was in for some physical pain.
"Oh, bugger!"
* * *
"Oh bugger!" Connor yelled as Caroline's van tore the street – right after Becker's vehicle and the matching cars of Becker's forces. "This is going to be very, very bad-!"
Abruptly, the van stopped causing Connor to jerk in his seat – if he hadn't been strapped in, he would've been thrown clear out of his seat, but since he was strapped in, he just experienced a physical shock and nothing more.
"Connor," Stephen said abruptly, "listen to me. The eagle has landed, so we're going to try and use the net to bring it down, while you prepare your machine!"
"Let me assure you, it's quite ready already," Connor said stiffly, "all I need is a one good shot."
"There it is, then," Caroline said flatly. "Take it!" She pointed at the giant eagle that was sitting on the sidewalk, eating a dog.
"Yes'm!" Connor saluted smartly, twirled his portable machine around, and took a 'shot'.
Only it turned out to be a shot in the real manner, as the time anomaly flashed open and close right on the giant eagle, either taking the bird into itself as it closed, or just destroyed it completely.
There was a pause and then the other two people in the van stared at Connor. "Did you send it back to its proper time?" Caroline finally asked.
"Oh... oh yeah! Of course!"
* * *
One moment the eagle was sitting in a strange, concrete wilderness where everything seemed dead and there was no proper trees at all, and the next it seemed to be back home, where everything was warm, and the trees were lush and green, and the sun was just beginning to rise. As some sort of instinctive excitement rose in its' breast, the Haast's eagle spread its' huge wings and emitted a joyous cry – a cry that was almost fifty million years too early to be heard over the planet.
As the eagle flew away in search of a new meal (it never had time to properly enjoy the first one), an ambulocetus, swimming in from the eastern coast, observed the big bird's departure with a lazy eye.
* * *
The cell phone rang. "Yes?" Jenny spoke into it, as James Lester began to quickly understand the folly of getting sarcastic with a social love triangle of sorts. "Sarah? What's up? Oh, the eagle's gone? Connor and the rest of you gotten lucky? Glad to hear it. Oh no, nothing's wrong with me other than James Lester-" She paused and suddenly nodded in agreement. "Yes, of course, we're on it."
She switched her cell phone off and looked to the rest of the people in the room. "Look, Lester, I'm sorry that we're cutting your interview slash gathering short, but Connor and Abby had a bit of a falling out this morning and Sarah and others want to ensure that the two of them settle their differences today. So, if you do not mind, we're leaving now."
"All three of you?" Lester asked flatly. "Looking for Miss Maitland?"
"No, Helen's waiting for Stephen to come back, and besides, it will clearly do her and Nick some good if the two of them are still separated by a big distance," Jenny smiled sweetly in way that guy would've been punched straight in the face as a response instead. "So, good luck with your meeting tomorrow, sir."
James Lester could only glare in something resembling an unholy rage as the mismatched trio slipped out of his office. "I really," he muttered, "really must do something about my employee policy, and real soon."
* * *
Abby Maitland was sitting despondently at her ARC office and watched the dinofelis kittens play in their pens, and felt lonely. If she had swallowed her pride and went along with Connor-
No, this had nothing to do with Connor – Abby just didn't like Caroline, period. The damn woman was just so, so self-confident- no. For an evil, brain-eating lizard person Caroline was certainly accepted and that-
"Can sit down?"
"Sure, Jenny. Um, is meeting with Lester over?"
"Yes, yes it is," the older woman smiled slightly at some inside joke. "Abby, Sarah called. The eagle has been dealt with, and Connor wants to talk to you."
"Yeah, well, I don't know if I want to talk to him," Abby paused. "No, wait, this isn't because of his past relationship, it's just that, well, I don't know what to say. It's so easy when the ex-girlfriend keeps at it, but when she doesn't, what can you do? Wait, how do you deal with Helen being in the same vicinity as you?"
"Easily," Jenny shrugged. "Helen prefers to spend time with Stephen, and I with Nick. There's nothing between them romantically-wise, let me assure you – they almost began to physically fight one another at Lester's office just moments before. So no worries for me on that front, let me assure you!"
"Thanks," Abby smiled but immediately grew serious once again, "but, well-"
"But nothing, Abby. You have feelings for Connor and they're reciprocated. So, why can't you accept it and be a couple?"
"Because I don't want to be like my mother!" Abby suddenly began to wail. "I love dad, but he's so the man of the house, that it's not even funny! I want to be more than just a Mrs. Temple, yet I cannot get Connor to take showers more often than once a week or so! And if I cannot do that, how will I able to remain my own person after all?"
"That's a good question, Abby, and while the phrase 'sticking to your beliefs' is probably just a big cliché to someone of your age, I would say that try it. It works."
Abby turned red. "Yes, I guess you're right. It's just that... I am kind of scared of this whole relationship thing anyways, you know?"
"Almost everyone is scared, unless they're someone like Helen Cutter, who has clearly achieved some sort of a feminine Zen and will strive to achieve her relationship with Stephen no matter what. Maybe we should ask her about it later."
"Um, Miss Lewis – can I speak to Abby in private, please?"
"Oh, Connor – I guess we didn't hear you come in. Certainly, certainly, I will leave you two to your privacy."
"Jenny? Thanks for our talk. We really should talk more."
"Glad to have helped, Abby!"
* * *
"Well, our lovebirds are all settled down at last," Jenny told Nick with a sly smile several moments later as she met him at his office. "Hopefully, they will begin to fix up whatever rifts they have created for themselves by now, eh?"
"Exactly!" Nick grinned back. "Jenny Lewis, you're a genius when it comes to interpersonal relationships!"
"Well, among all of the scholars of nature around here one interpersonal relationship genius certainly rounds up nicely whatever the nature of the local assemblage."
"You mean the study of the time anomalies?"
"Yes, of course!" Jenny beamed, and then toned her facial expression down to a more demure look as she leaned towards her almost-steady boyfriend for a kiss.
It was at that moment that Stephen and Helen burst into the room, holding hands, but the grimace of pain on Helen's face (it made her face appear almost lopsided) clearly implied that this was anything but a romantic greeting.
"Nick, Jenny," Helen's voice was also slightly distorted from pain, yet carried a sort of a desperate authority as well. "Grab Stephen and me – please! Something bad is going to happen now!"
The tone of urgency in Helen's voice made the other pair comply with Helen's wishes: they took her and Stephen's hands, and-
-the whole world turned mad.
To be continued...