Hello! Ok, so you may think that there was a wait. Maybe, but I give you a bumper chapter! Yay! Ok, so I didn't want to break the action up this close to the end and so I just kept going, but hey! It's the last proper chapter, so why not? Probably going to be an epilogue of sorts after this and then the story is done.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. If I thought I did, I'd never leave (check my profile to understand that one).
"Done?"
"Not yet." Stevens slumped down opposite the busy scientist, who was concentrating on placing the screws back in the final laser. The whole operation had almost taken ten minutes and if it took as long to get up as get down, they wouldn't be able to test them for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Stevens flattened the rucksack he'd found, smoothing all the creases. He'd been forbidden from rustling the paper packaging they were going to use to stop the equipment knocking about and breaking as they climbed up the shaft. Connor was starting to feel very old and responsible.
The screw pushed flat and Connor tapped it gently to check the screws were good. Satisfied, he started to sort out his screwdrivers.
"Right. Pack them up. We'll take the screwdrivers in case as well." Connor paused and looked around. "Oh, and these." He chucked two pairs of goggles at Stevens, who haphazardly caught them.
"Anything else? Your work bench maybe? We could winch it up," suggested Stevens sarcastically, as he tried to cram the paper and lasers in so they didn't stick out. Connor handed the screwdrivers over, giving a smirk as he did.
"Lester would tell you that only he is allowed to use sarcasm. Ready?"
"I'm carrying, am I?" grumbled Stevens as he hoisted the bag onto his back. He adjusted the straps slightly, but, if he was being honest, it's wasn't all that heavy.
"You're the soldier."
"You're the scientist who's always running around after dinosaurs. Ergo, you are fit enough."
"Yes, but I have no training in carrying backpacks. Health and safety mate," smiled Connor, as he exited his lab, eager to get back to Matt and Becker.
Stevens shifted the pack again. "I'll kill bloody Health and Safety."
Matt lay his ear to the metal as Becker stared at him incredulously. Matt knocked the metal a few times with his phone.
"I highly advise keeping that intact," sighed Becker. He shifted forward and tugged Matt off his upright kneeling perch. "They'll be able to see where there's a gap, which is probably more accurate than you punching the sides; that's surely something I should be doing."
"What if there is no gap. We could be buried in a small mountain of plaster and brick... sorry, wrong thing to say." Becker took a couple of deep breaths, in and out, slowly. This was partly to reduce the sense of fear, but also to gain some much needed patience. Ever since Abby last phoned, Matt was getting edgy, as his mind recognise that things were finally happening and that he should be doing something to help too.
"Then they'll clear all of it away."
Matt shrugged and knelt back up again. He gazed at the blank piece of metal, then felt the solid surface. Eventually, he gave into temptation and placed his ear to the cold surface again, raising his hand in preparation.
"Matt!" cried Becker. "Stop it. In a minute, I'll have another panic attack just to spite you." Matt came down and sat in ponderous thought for a few minutes. Becker, meanwhile, tried to distract himself from the situation by listing everything that can go wrong when Connor and lasers mix. Strange what could be comforting in the right situation.
He had got as far as 'laser piercing an unknown gas chamber and causing another, more massive explosion' when Matt decided to vocalise his thoughts.
"I think there's a gap there." Becker rolled his eyes and returned to his mental list. He didn't get any further. "It should mean that they can get through fairly quickly, especially as it's only thin metal."
Becker hoped Matt was right.
"So... how much longer will Connor be? Only some of us do have homes to get to. My wife must be thinking I'm doing the funky chicken blind dunk at the after party."
"You've not phoned her?" asked Abby, sitting on the side of the pipe.
"Not yet. Didn't know what to say. I don't think 'a dinosaur may have caused an explosion at work' would really cut it. She'd probably think I was disguising an affair or something."
"Don't worry," replied Lyons. "She wouldn't think that." Lester looked round sharply in mock annoyance.
"If that's an insult, you realise I'm still your boss and can have you fired as I please." Lyons stared at his blankly.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't."
"Never underestimate me. I fought future creatures, knocked out cones and coped with Cutter." Lyons held up his hands in half-hearted surrender. Lester huffed gently and turned to check his watch, which, luckily, had escaped the proceedings of that evening so far with just a few surface scratches. He tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the second hand go by.
Abby suddenly sat up. Everyone twisted round to look at her, curiously. She concentrated into the distance for a couple of seconds, then smiled in relief.
"Abby..." began one of the soldiers, but he was hurriedly hushed by Lyons, who was also beginning to smile. It took everyone a little longer to finally hear the far off echoes of footsteps. Abby got up and moved a bit further down the corridor.
Connor ran straight into her, pushing her over and face-planting himself on the floor. Behind him, Stevens had just enough time to jump over the pile of bodies and pull up a few inches from Lester. He backed up sharply at being that close to civil servant and, in the process almost tripped over Abby, if Lester hadn't grabbed him back.
"Connor!" shouted Abby, pushing a leg off her. She quickly sat upright to face Connor who did likewise. He looked apprehensively at his girlfriend, whose face softened. "What took you so long?" Connor let out the breath he was holding.
"Had to get to my lab, you know, and prepare the lasers. Honestly, a little bit of gratitude..." He was cut off by Abby launching herself at him into a firm kiss. All of the soldiers turned away from the smushy scene, while Lester just folded his arms and tapped his foot until the kiss had ended.
"If you two have quite finished, maybe we can get on with actually saving people." Abby and Connor grinned widely and helped each other up.
"Yes. Come on, you best teach me how to use these." Connor face fell in disappointment. "No, you can't use them. I'm the only one who can fit in the pipe properly... and I know where to cut." Sighing, but admitting defeat, Connor gestured to Stevens, who heaved the bag off his back, groaning and producing the lasers. "Is that it?" questioned Abby, surprised.
"Oi! These have a lot of power to them, you know. Pierce concrete... maybe. I'll try later."
"Frankly, I'm rather please he's not in charge of them," whispered Lester to Lyons, who just nodded in agreement. They watched on absently as Connor showed Abby which buttons to press when. To think Lester had just assumed there'd be a 'fire', button. He was glad he couldn't fit in the pipe.
Abby eventually took a laser and shoved unceremoniously into her waistband. Another, she grabbed firmly in her hand and stepped into the opening in the pipe. Connor slipped his jacket off and passed it to her. She looked at it confused.
"You're going to be melting metal; it might drip and you're wearing a flimsy top." Abby took it gratefully and slipped it on. "Don't use it directly over your head."
"Kinda figured. Stevens, you can probably fit after me, but wait until I cut through and call to you. No point in you being cramped for longer than necessary." Stevens grumbled quietly about this not being his day.
Abby put on the goggles, which were twice as big as they needed to be, and squeezed in, now sure of where and when to bend. Stevens stood well back this time and let the other gently guide Abby's legs in. She eased in, grabbing the bar quickly to shift herself along. This time, no panic.
She slid up to the place she had found before, making sure her face wasn't directly under as suggested and brought her hand out. Cautiously, she switched on the laser, pressing all the buttons Connor had shown her.
There was a low hum and then a thin beam of blue light let the area. For a couple of seconds, there was no action and Abby's hopes fell. Then, a strand of smoke rose up and a scent of burning filled the air.
The hole produced was small, almost point, and Abby worried at the amount of time it would take. The hole grew to be about half an inch in diameter, but then stopped. Abby switched the laser off and removed her goggles to survey her work. She bit her lip, but noticed that, around the edge of the hole, a thin layer of liquid metal was gently cooling. Placing her goggles back, she tried again.
This time, she moved the laser up and down in a line. A glossy tone indicated molten metal, which quickly severed. A few drops of silvery orbs dripped onto Connor's jacket; Abby watched as it fizzed in a mini bubble, burning a hole. She silently thanked Connor for his foresight and made a mental memo to buy him a new one.
"How's it going?" called Lester.
"Should be out in five minutes," replied Abby, who moved onto work another stretch. She quickly had a line of about a metre in length arced over her body and moved on to start again, perpendicularly. This rhythm was set and she quickly worked to cut a square-ish shape in the pipe above her.
The final two lines eventually joined and Abby quickly pushed upwards as hard as she could. There was no movement. She pushed again, grunting with effort. There was a still creaking and she felt some warping, but as soon as she relaxed the metal plate settled back. Sighing, Abby shifted up. Her head bumped against the metal which marked the end of the passageway.
Pressing her shoulder against her ear, she contorted her neck allowing her to move her entire body up that little bit further; she started to wonder if those yoga lessons Jess had taken her to could actually be a good idea. Shuffling around, she judged that if this plan was going to work, it was going to work now.
She kicked the plate. Immediately, a corner bent up and she could see the door of the lab through the gap that had formed. She kicked again. The plate flew up, clattering against plaster and brick. Abby's trousers were powered with white dust which puffed up in a cloud at the disturbance. She relaxed her body, stretching out.
"Ow!" cried Stevens, as her foot came into contact with his nose. "Watch it!"
"I said wait 'til I called," said Abby angrily, looking along the pipe. She ducked down in order to sit up in the square hole and drew up her feet. She coughed a few times as the last dust settled.
"Yeah, 'cos it was my idea to get in now." He peered back. "Heard that? I was right, I didn't need to get in yet." Abby could just make out the ensuing argument and complaints that were happening at the other end of the pipe. She phased it out of her hearing as she looked around.
The room was... barely a room. The ceiling had completely collapsed in and there was a large hole in one of the walls. Consequently, there were gaping cracks which ran from one corner of the room to the others and Abby was sure there would be others which she couldn't see in the dim light; one of the bar lights lay smashed across what was supposed to be desk, but which was buried under a heap. Instead, the light came from another set of lights which was meant to be for the room above which now lacked a floor.
Looking around, Abby realised that this entire area was still not safe, but could fold in at any moment it seemed.
"Abby!" shouted Connor. "What's it like?"
"Devastated," she replied, tearing her eyes away from the glowing above. She took a deep breath in and set her mind to why she was here. Matt and Becker.
She twisted around to search for their vent shaft, but it wasn't clear. She stood, hoping the elevation would make the difference, but it didn't and her hopes fell at the prospect of finding the shaft in all this chaos; one wrong brick moved and there could be subsidence.
Stevens whistled as he stood up beside her. "So, where are they?" Abby shrugged. "Ok." Stevens paused for thought. "Right, where did they come in from?" Abby looked at him. "Well, we can..."
"No. I know why you're asking. It's just surprising you could come up with that. You're like Connor."
"In what way?"
"Useless at everything except it matters." Abby stepped out of the pipe carefully. "They came from Lester's office area, which is in that direction, so I think that means they must have come in a shaft which came across here." She narrowed her search in to a pile of rubble. Immediately, she spotted the exposed, recognisable silver of the vent shafts. She reached out and knocked.
"Come in," came a muffled voice, the relief audible through even the solid barrier.
"Matt?" cried Abby. "Are you OK? And Becker, how's he? Are either of you hurt? And be honest with me..."
"Erm... Abby," interrupted Stevens cautiously. Abby looked around and sensed that maybe he was right to. She climbed up onto the a few bricks, which moved underneath her feet sharply. Stevens put out his arm out reflexively and Abby caught hold of it before she fell onto the sharp debris below. She murmured her thanks.
She tried again, this time trying the bricks she put her foot on first, before putting her full weight on them. Once she was in more comfortable reach of the shaft, she dusted off an area and judged the area. She knocked right in the middle.
"Matt, I'm going to cut around here. Move right away from it." She glanced at the debris on it. About two foot along, a lab work bench, presumably from the room above, had squashed the shaft like, as Connor would say, a drinks can. "Try to push towards the end of the area you're trapped in." There was the sound of movement and a couple of bangs. "Matt?"
"Can you possibly be as quick as you can? I don't think... we can stay like this for long."
Abby frowned, but set to work.
Inside the pipe, Becker bit his lip as Abby started to make the first hole, testing the metal. As if things were pretty bad being trapped in a small cramped space, now he was forced to cower in one corner of it. Matt looked on, concerned, from the other end, unable to fit by Becker.
A line appeared in the metal around the area that Matt had predicted. Well, at least he was correct, even if there was no point in what he did. A few drops of molten metal fell and fizzed as they cooled rapidly and formed little balls attached to the floor. Becker pressed back further and felt even worse.
The second line began to appear and Becker was grateful to note that Abby had remembered that not everyone could fit through a hole as small as she could. He was also grateful that he had had to skip dinner.
At the third line, he was beginning to wish he had skipped lunch.
At the forth line, Matt could see Becker very well, the Captain's skin almost completely white against the darker interior. Becker had closed his eyes and was very slightly swaying. However, with the spitting metal between them, Matt didn't want to risk reaching across.
Suddenly, metal square crashed down between them, causing Matt to jump. He looked up to see Abby standing, smiling, with piece of brick in her hand, raised, having recoiled from the impact. The image of the blond was soon eclipsed by the back of the Captain, who instant reaction was to stand up in the new hole and lean over.
Matt waited as the sounds of retching had died down. Then, gingerly, he shifted into a crouching position.
"Abby, can you help Becker out?" he requested, when the Captain hadn't moved. There was some shuffling above and first one boot, then another disappeared. Matt hurriedly stood, narrowly missing his head on the edge of the fresh cut hole. He stepped out his prison, carefully avoiding the splat on the floor directly in front of the hole.
Abby stood with her arm around a rather dazed looking Becker, who obviously wasn't used to being the sick one. Matt could hardly blame him; Abby looked a little bemused by the whole situation. On seeing Matt was out, Abby gestured to a medium sized gap in a pipe lying on the floor.
"There's your exit. Bit tight, but I'm sure you're used to that now."
Becker groaned.
Poor Becker. Please review, for his sake.
