The Changing Face of Lester.

Here we meet Lester's wife. Continuation from 'Do you remember me?'

Lester has been bitten by a Future Predator.

Jess has just discovered that she is Lester's daughter.

(This chapter is dedicated to Lovingthis because she's AWESOME, just just got her results and has got into the Uni of her choice. Well done!)

Chapter 11

"Was that ...?"

"An anomaly? ... Yes" Abby answered.

"Wow!" was all that Caroline managed to say, totally in awe of the fact that three of the team had just walked through the magnificent orb of light and disappeared. She paused for a moment.

"Where have they gone?" Caroline wondered out loud. Half expecting them to still be in the building. People just didn't disappear like that. She looked at Jess.

Caroline felt that she should have told Jess sooner. Why hadn't James said anything before? They even worked together. Caroline gulped maybe she should have stayed out of this and let her own parents tell her. But then James was irreversibly changing into a creature. She would have lost him without ever being told.

Jess's thoughts kept coming back to one in particular. 'Why wasn't I told? They've had years to tell me, why now?' Auntie Caroline could have told her years before this, Uncle James could have told her years ago. Even her own parents didn't tell her. Why NOT? Jess started to feel angry and betrayed. Betrayed that no-one had told her the truth until now.

"To be exact... 2031" Abby could feel the tension in the air between Jess and Caroline. It was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Maybe she should give them a bit of space she thought, the silence making her feel uncomfortable.

"I'm going to the rest room, my comms will be on if you need me." She stood up to leave, "Are you coming Emily?" Emily nodded. She had noticed the tension too and was grateful to be able to leave the two women to chat.

Jess and Caroline were lost in thought.

Jess opened her mouth to say something, when the Anomaly Detector sounded. She quickly swivelled round in her seat. As an anomaly opened up behind her.

Abby and Emily had not even reached the elevator when they turned around at the sound of the alarm.

They started to rush back.

Abby gasped as she saw Becker and Matt come through, they were supporting Connor between them. He was limping badly with a gash on his leg. Abby hoped it wasn't his bad leg. He had hurt his leg a few weeks ago when he had been dragged underground by some enormous bugs, and then had injured the same leg yesterday when he had been catapulted into the future. They looked dishevelled and looked as if they had spent a lot longer in the future than just a few minutes. Matt had a few gashes on his cheek and all of them looked grimy. The anomaly stayed open for a few minutes and then two more people came through.

One of them was a woman, in her mid-forties, she looked grimy as the rest of them and she was wearing a very dirty pair of jeans and a torn t-shirt. Her long blonde hair looked as if it hadn't seen shampoo in days and had been tied messily into a pony tail. She was aiming an EMD at the anomaly, a fearful look in her blue eyes.

The other was a young man who could be no more than twenty. His blonde hair was also dirty, long and messy. He could not have been to a hairdresser for well over a year, and could not have shaved for that time either. She noted that he was currently aiming an EMD at the Anomaly with one hand and had a device similar to Connor's in the other. He pressed a button on it and closed the anomaly.

Abby was about to rush over to Connor, who was being aided by Matt and Becker. They helped him into a chair. When the woman who followed them through the anomaly rushed over, she got there first and started babbling.

"Have you been bitten? Speak to me Connor, HAVE YOU BEEN BITTEN?" She shouted at Connor sounding frantic.

Abby leaned over to have a closer look at this strange woman. Her mouth fell open as she looked. Abby felt as if she were looking into a mirror. The older woman was a spitting image of Abby, and older version, but a spitting image nevertheless. Abby gaped she was the one whose turn it was to be rooted to the spot. She watched as Matt and Becker collapsed into chairs themselves. The young man, having sealed the anomaly turned around.

Abby couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man was a younger version of Connor with blonde hair and blue eyes! What On Earth Was Going On!

Both Abby's watched as Connor winced in pain.

"Will you stop panicking? … I haven't been bitten!" Connor took several deep breaths.

The older woman turned to look at Abby.

"Oh no, I know what you're thinking, it's not what this looks like." The older woman started to panic. "You see…" she paused to look at Connor.

Connor spoke up. "Abby…" He paused to look up at her. "This is…. Abby... It's you from the future." He winced again. The older Abby moved back.

Connor nodded to the young man. "Luke… Thank you. …. You saved me life!" He looked at Abby again. "This is Luke… our son!" Connor smiled in appreciation.

"Its okay dad, I'm just making sure that you're here for us this time." Luke grinned.

Luke turned to the older Abby.

"We ought to be going."

"Wait I've got to tell Dr Lester something first." She turned to Caroline. Caroline was bewildered by the whole scene and stood open mouthed.

"The answer is Jess's blood. You've got to give James a blood transfusion. It will stop him becoming a creature and reverse the process." The older Abby turned to Matt.

Here's that memory stick. It has all the answers you'll need. All that you need to know now is that you mustn't let James become that creature. We've stopped that creature from biting Connor so things should become better." She turned to Jess. She seemed to know what was going on in Jess's head, because the next thing she said was for Jess to put differences behind her and help Lester.

Older Abby put her arm around her son.

"Come on, let's go…" She smiled sweetly at Connor, fearing that she may never see him again.

Luke looked at Connor. "Been great finally meeting you Dad!" He grinned and saluted the men who had come back. "Hope to see you again... SOON!" He pressed a button on the device in his hand. As the alarms sounded once more on the ADD, an anomaly opened and they disappeared through it Luke with one arm around his mum. Abby frowned. What had Luke meant when he said 'Finally been great meeting you!'

The hub fell into an eerie silence, the women trying to comprehend what had just happened, and the men still struggling to come to terms with their ordeal, all of them wincing in pain.

Emily moved first. She rushed over to Matt's side. She looked over him.

"Caroline, I think all of them could do with medical attention." Caroline rushed to her side. Abby finally found her feet, and she ran over to Connor. She was relieved to see him. Although the sight of her older self, had made her feel uncomfortable, she had tried to recover as quickly as she could. She decided to put it away for the moment, and ask Connor what had happened later.

She looked at the gash on Connor's leg.

"That's the third time in the last two weeks that has split open. I don't think it's going to heal properly now." He winced and hissed again as Abby tried to take a quick look. "OW!"

"Sorry" Abby whispered.

Jess picked up the phone and started tapping buttons. She spoke to the medics to come with several wheelchairs so that they could transfer all three men easily. She then went to Becker's side to see to his injuries. He had a cut to his arm, he was filthy. But other than that he looked O.K.

Just what had Luke meant when he said "Finally been great meeting you?"

Why was the older Abby so worried about young Connor?

Why is the answer in Jess' blood?

Has Jess got special blood that could help Lester?