Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
A/N Part of the Claudia story verse (AU) Transitions, Transitions Too, Continuum, Trimming the Tree
5.5-2 AU Anomaly Alerts
…"strange pets"…
-x-x-x-x-x-x
April backed up into the far corner of the room, looking from one face to the other nervously. She finally settled her gaze on Lester.
"It's her fault, not mine," repeated April. "I wanted to take him to the hospital!"
"But you didn't take Connor to the hospital," reminded Lester. He narrowed his green eyes and stared. "You left him… alone… in a cold, dark basement and didn't notify the proper authorities…"
"There was no time," hissed April. "The tracing program on the laptop… someone was coming… we hurried to leave… I dropped the spider container…"
Lester wrinkled up his nose as if he smelled something bad. He continued speaking as if April hadn't said a word.
"Instead…," said Lester slowly "you went off to New Forest, blew up a Volkswagen, stole a white panel van, disappeared for a few days…"
April gulped.
"Then you and this woman came back," continued Lester biting each word out, "broke into a secured… government facility and stole an SUV… which you have now managed to crash."
Lester pushed the picture printed from the CCTV image across the rectangular table towards April.
"This is the same woman who abandoned you on the M3," said Lester. "Aurora… right? What can you tell us about her?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor grasped the railing and moved up another step. His chest was hurting. Rex flew out of the bedroom, circled overhead, and settled on the topmost banister. The coelurosauravus chirped and tilted his head as he watched Connor. Then Rex soared upwards again.
"A lot of help you are," grumbled Connor. He took another step.
x-x-x-x-x-x
Aurora hated walking in the open countryside. It was just too big… too open… too much. Walking in the dark, clinging to the shadows in the forest, the tall angular woman crouched low and managed to evade capture. She had arrived at the town in the dim predawn hours. Aurora sheltered in the alley until the local Sainsbury opened. Then shielding her eyes against the bright morning light, Aurora entered the store.
"Oh you're here early," greeted the cheerful shop assistant. "May I help you?"
"I need a map," replied the pale, bony faced woman, "I need to get to London."
The cheerful woman glanced through the plate glass window at the empty car park.
"Did you want a road map?" asked the shop assistant. "Or directions to the train?"
Aurora smiled.
"The underground," replied Aurora.
"Well," said the smiling shop assistant "it's above ground here… but by the time you get to central London, you'll be underground."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Lester placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.
"Did you just say," asked Lester "that you met Aurora in the tube station last year?"
"Yes," answered April. "She was working near here."
"What kind of work?" asked Danny.
"She's a scientist," replied April "biology… evolutionary… chemistry… something like that… does experiments with DNA."
"Where was she working?" asked Lester. "And what is her last name… we can trace her through her work records."
April looked surprised at the questions.
"Oh you won't be able to trace her," replied April. "She's from the future."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Easy there Connor," said Patrick. The teen looked at Connor in concern and grabbed him around the shoulders to steady him. "Should you be climbing the stairs by yourself?"
"Well I made it down okay," muttered Connor.
"Up is a different direction," teased Patrick. "Why don't we settle you in the living room?"
"I wanted to go upstairs," protested Connor.
"You're not even half way up," argued Patrick. "And if you're in the living room, you'll see Abby first thing when she gets home."
Connor glanced up the long flight of steep stairs. The few steps he'd climbed had just about worn him out.
"You really should be resting," added Patrick. "Abby will have my head if I let you fall down."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Aurora gazed through her reflection at the passing buildings. The train window showed a tall, pale woman with short blonde bristly hair. The rucksack she carried on her shoulder wriggled. The angular features of the woman softened into something that resembled a smile. She lifted the flap on the rucksack and reached a hand inside.
"Soon," Aurora whispered. "Soon."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Lester, Abby and Danny walked out of the interrogation room. Abby was shaking her head. The young security officer tried to look stern and alert as they passed him on their way to center of the ARC.
"I can't believe the woman was living down in those rooms," said Abby "spying on us… for who knows how long. What on earth does she want with Connor?"
"Stephen and I didn't see anything in those rooms beyond pet carry cages," added Danny. "Do you think… could you tell something more?"
"Dunno," replied Abby. "Haven't seen the rooms yet."
"Danny, take Abby to those rooms you and Stephen found," ordered Lester as they reached Jess's workstation. "See what you can find out about the creatures this Aurora person was raising down there."
Lester watched Abby and Danny head down the corridor towards the menagerie… and whatever lay beyond. He turned to find Jess gazing at him expectantly.
"Colonel Harper is back," said Jess. "He's in your office and wants to talk to you about military plans for the ARC."
Lester frowned in annoyance.
"Tell him he'll have to wait," said Lester. "Would you buzz the rest of the team… have them all meet me in Cutter's office."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor sighed in relief as he sat down on the sofa.
"Do you need me to bring me your pain medicine?" asked Patrick.
"No!" exclaimed Connor. "That stuff messes with me head… but there is something…"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Aurora climbed up the steps from the tube station. She put on her heavy sunglasses and shuddered.
"I can't believe people actually live like this," she muttered to herself.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Cutter looked up from his desk as Lester entered his office.
"I heard you've got the Leonard woman in custody," said the Scot. "What did you find out?"
"April Leonard is from this time period," answered Lester. "We have a birth certificate and iron clad..."
"I've got iron clad credentials," interrupted Matt as he walked in the room behind Lester, closely followed by Emily.
Lester turned towards Matt and Emily and leaned back, sitting on Cutters desk. He crossed his arms as he stared at the time crossed pair.
"Iron clad proof that she's from this time," continued Lester. "Miss Leonard lies about her age, she's really thirty-two, and the police have her fingerprints on file… she was arrested for shoplifting as a teenager."
"So she's not from the future?" asked Claudia from where she stood by the bookcase.
"I thought those two were supposed to be from Matt's time," said Cutter.
Lester shook his head as Stephen and Sarah crowded into the tiny office.
"The other woman is named Aurora," said Lester. "Aside from being a kidnapper and a thief, she's a member of the British Tarantula Society and, according to Miss Leonard, is from the future."
"The British Tarantula Society?" said Sarah. "Eww!"
"If she was sent from Matt's time," said Emily quietly "What is she trying to do… start… stop… or do something else with the anomalies and this… convergence."
"We really don't know if Aurora is from Matt's time or not," said Lester as he eyed Matt carefully. "Matt, when exactly is your time?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby followed Danny down the dank dark corridor. Danny pushed open a door. The light from the torches they carried illuminated the room.
"Aurora was living here?" asked Abby.
She wrinkled up her nose in disgust. Danny walked further into the room and shined his torch on an old counter.
"This is where Stephen and I found those pet carrier cages," said Danny.
Abby joined him at the counter and flickered the torchlight across its surface.
"The cages were too big for spiders," said Abby, "not even tarantulas would need that much space."
"Any ideas?" asked Danny.
Abby stopped moving the torch as it lit up the floor near the counter. She focused the light on some droppings.
"I'm a lizard girl," reminded Abby. "But based on what I see here, Aurora's other pets might be rodents of some sort."
"What kind of rodents?"
"Well, not mice… the pellets are too big," said Abby. "Maybe rats… or shrews… or chiroptera..."
"Chiroptera," asked Danny, "what's that?"
"Bats..."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor removed the casing from the device Cutter had brought over the other day. He gave a low whistle of amazement at the insides.
"This is the third anomaly opening device I've taken apart," muttered Connor as he shook his head. "And they're all different."
"Hey," Patrick called from the kitchen "I'm going to make some sandwiches. Do you want some lunch?"
Connor glanced at the time displayed on his cell phone.
"In a bit," said Connor. "I just need to make a phone call."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker's cell phone rang. His large hand reached out from beneath the covers towards the nightstand, finally finding the noisy gadget. The soldier listened and then rolled over to gaze at the empty space beside him.
"Yeah Connor," replied Becker. "I've still got that sword you brought back from the cretaceous. It's locked up in the gun cabinet."
He listened again, and then nodded.
"Right, the sword forged with magnetite from the dark ages," Becker rolled his eyes. "It's the only sword I've got in the flat. I'll drop it off on my way home from work."
The soldier traced the shape of the form imprinted on his sheets as Connor babbled on.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Aurora stared at the modest white stucco home. The rucksack over her shoulder wriggled again. The bony woman reached her long arm into the darkness of the bag and withdrew her hand quickly.
"Naughty, naughty," hissed Aurora. "You're not supposed to bite."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Matt crossed his arms too and gazed back at Lester.
"My time is through the race track anomaly," replied Matt quietly. "A place where the earth is ruined, the air is toxic… and those creatures… are everywhere."
"You would be the best one to judge if Aurora is from the same era," said Lester. "Matt would you take April and a security team to New Forest?"
"And what am I looking for?"
"Near where the destroyed Volkswagen was found," explained Lester "there's some sort of underground bunker."
Matt closed his eyes, remembering the underground shelters of his childhood.
"There may be an anomaly to Aurora's time there, if April's telling the truth," said Lester. He reached down and adjusted the cufflink on his suit.
"What about the rest of us?" asked Stephen.
Lester looked up, his gaze sharp.
"Contingency plans really," replied Lester. "Stephen, there's an abandoned power station near the M3 where the rollover occurred. Check it out, see what you can find."
The muscular young man nodded as Lester continued talking.
"Sarah, take additional security and go to the race track anomaly, we don't want her going back there," directed Lester. "Make sure it stays shut!"
"And what about us?" asked the Professor.
"I'd like you and Claudia to recheck that basement, the one where Becker found Connor," replied Lester. "See if there's any information that can help us find Aurora."
"I'm going back home," said Abby. She and Danny stood by the door frame. "In case she's still trying to find Connor."
Lester nodded.
"Did you find anything more in the tubes?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor looked up from the disassembled gadget in front of him. Someone was knocking on the front door. From the sound of the CD player coming from the kitchen, Connor doubted Patrick had heard the knock. He rose from the chair and walked slowly to the front of the house and opened the door.
"Connor Temple," asked the tall pale woman "why did you do it?"
"Do what?" asked Connor in turn. "What have I done?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Danny turned the SUV onto the tree lined road. The handheld anomaly detector sitting on the seat between he and Abby began to buzz.
"Jess," said Danny into the communication device. "Where's the anomaly?"
At the ARC, the young woman stared in horror at the images opening up on the video display in front of her.
"There's more than one," said Jess, "they're everywhere!"
Abby pointed straight down the road towards her home. The flickering gold, orange, and red of an anomaly opening could be seen near the two people standing at her front door. As she watched, the anomaly grew larger, enveloping first the two people, then the entire home.
"No!"
-x-x-x-x-x-x